Candid chats with the US President

US First Lady Michelle Obama said she talks candidly with her husband on key political issues, following the publication of a book that claimed she had clashed with top White House aides.

Mrs Obama said in an interview with the CBS This Morning show broadcast yesterday that she knew President Barack Obama needed to get the best advice on the most difficult issues from advisers who knew their subjects best.

“That’s not to say that we don’t have discussions and conversations,” said Mrs Obama in the interview, conducted at the White House on Tuesday.

“That’s not to say my husband doesn’t know how I feel. I mean, one thing is true, I talk very candidly to my husband about how I feel,” she said.

“If I didn’t agree with something, I would talk to my own husband about it,” Michelle Obama said, according to excerpts of the interview released by CBS.

The White House on Monday branded a new book called The Obamas by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor as “over-hyped”.

In one episode in the book, former White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was reported to have feuded with Valerie Jarrett, a confidant of the Obamas, and even cursed the First Lady over her apparent dissatisfaction over an unflattering story.

“Books like these tend to overhype and sensationalise things, and I think that’s the case here,” said Jay Carney, the current White House spokesman.