First Lady Michelle Obama took issue with reporter Jodi Kantor's characterization of East Wing-West Wing tensions in her latest book "The Obamas."

"I never read these books. There are so many books that have my picture on the cover, my name on it, I don't even know what's going on," Obama told CBS' Gayle King. "Who can write about how I feel? What third person can tell me about how I feel?"

Obama said that she does not routinely interfere in West Wing business in an interview that aired on CBS' "This Morning," despite reports that she clashed with top West Wing aides and expressed her concerns and displeasure about policy and politics through backchannels.

"I don't have conversations with my husband's staff. I don't go to the meetings," she told King. "I guess it's more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here, a strong woman. But that's been an image that people have try to paint of me since the day that Barack announced, that I'm some angry black woman."

Obama said that she and former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel "never had a cross word" - despite Kantor's reporting that they clashed over strategy and policy during Emanuel's tenure. But she stopped short of issuing a blanket denial of the issues raised in Kantor's book, saying that she certainly expressed her opinion to President Obama.

"I do care deeply about my husband. I am his biggest ally," said Obama. "I am one of his biggest confidantes, but he has dozens of really smart people who surround him. That's not to say that we don't have discussions and conversations. That's not to say that my husband doesn't know how I feel."

(SOURCE)