Vice President Joe Biden made a splash Monday on Capitol Hill when he hinted at running for president in 2020, but he stepped back from his comments the following day during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
"I'm a great respecter of fate," Biden said Tuesday night. "I don't plan on running again ... But to say you know what will happen in four years is not rational."
"That is the sound of a door creaking open is what that is," Colbert joked.
Biden did not hide his disappointment about Donald Trump's election win, which he deemed "fair and square," but disappointment was not enough to make him commit to run in 2020. Biden said he made the best decision for his family to stay out of the race.
"I can't see the circumstances in which I'd run. But what I've learned a long, long time ago, Stephen, is to never say never. You don't know what's going to happen," he said to Colbert.
Biden appears to be keeping his options open, however. He told reporters Monday, "I'm not committing not to run. I'm not committing to anything. I learned a long time ago fate has a strange way of intervening."