Michelle Obama sits out election campaign amid security concerns after attacks on Trump

Former first lady yet to make an official appearance for Kamala Harris with fewer than three weeks until polling day

Michelle Obama has been sitting out the election campaign amid fears for her security following the assassination attempts on Donald Trump.
The former first lady issued a rallying cry for Democrats to campaign for Kamala Harris in August, but has yet to make an official appearance for the vice president with fewer than three weeks until polling day.
Two sources told NBC News that she had expressed concerns about her security following the attempts made on the life of Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
It was announced on Wednesday that Mrs Obama would appear at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia targeting young and ethnic minority voters, but this would not take place until a week before election day.
She is also said to have worked behind the scenes to drive up turnout in the swing states for Ms Harris.
“After the two assassination attempts against former president Trump, the [staff] of all the former presidents and first ladies recognised the new reality and so does the Secret Service,” one person familiar with the matter said.
They called it a “wake-up call to everyone” to redouble their efforts on security “in light of the new reality”.
In a speech to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August, Mrs Obama warned Democrats not to get complacent as the vice president appeared to be riding high in the polls and urged supporters to “do something”.
Data show that the race has narrowed significantly since Ms Harris accepted the Democratic nomination for president, with two major polls on Sunday putting the race at a dead heat.
“We cannot indulge our anxieties about whether this country will elect someone like Kamala instead of doing everything we can to get someone like Kamala elected,” Mrs Obama said in her DNC speech.
“We cannot afford for anyone to sit on their hands and wait to be called upon,” she continued. “There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness.”
Former president Barack Obama, Mrs Obama’s husband, joined the trail last week to campaign for Ms Harris and is expected to tour the swing states stumping for the vice president.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, he admitted the election would be tight and admonished black men for not turning out for Ms Harris.
Former presidents and first ladies are entitled to lifelong Secret Service protection under a measure signed into law by Mr Obama by 2013.
In 2011, a man who declared he was “on a mission from God to take out Obama” and fired at the White House with an assault rifle while he was in office was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
It has previously been reported that Mrs Obama had resisted campaigning for Joe Biden before the US President dropped out of the race in June in favour of Ms Harris.
The former first lady was said to have voiced concern about how the Biden’s treated her close friend Kathleen Buhle, after she divorced Mr Biden’s son Hunter in 2017.