Joe Biden: I would pick Michelle Obama as my vice presidential running mate 'in a heartbeat'

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he would pick former first lady Michelle Obama "in a heartbeat" to be his vice presidential running mate for the 2020 race to the White House.

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In an interview with Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV that ran Monday, Biden was asked regarding Obama, "If she said to you she'd be willing to be your running mate, would you ask her?"

"Oh, I'd take her in a heartbeat," Biden replied. "She's brilliant. She knows the way around. She is a really fine woman."

The station also quoted Biden as saying "the Obamas are great friends," but that "I don't think she has any desire to live near the White House again," although the latter statements don't appear on KDKA's video broadcast.

'We're just beginning the process'

Biden — who was vice president under former President Barack Obama — also told the station he's in the early stages of choosing a running mate.

“In terms of who to pick, we're just beginning the process," he also told KDKA. “We'll shortly be announcing the committee I've named to review this and begin to look through the backgrounds of the various potential nominees. And that's just getting underway."

'We should have had a woman president already in Hillary'

Biden added to the station that while he won't commit to a woman of color as his running mate, he is still committed to have a woman run with him.

The station quoted Biden as saying "I think it's really important now that we establish once and for all we should have had a woman president already in Hillary [Clinton]" and that "there are a number of qualified women out there," although the latter statements don't appear on KDKA's video broadcast.

"I think it is very important that my administration look like the public, look like the nation," he told the station. "I committed there will be a woman of color on the Supreme Court [but that] doesn't mean there won't be a vice president [who's a woman of color] as well."