msnbc   |  January 26, 2013

Obama, Clinton participate in rare joint interview

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down for a rare joint interview scheduled to air Sunday. NBC’s Kristen Welker reports.

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>>> details about a rare joint interview for president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton . take a look at it there. the "60 minutes "interview will air on cbs tomorrow night. let me bring in kristen welker on this. was this kind of sister price to folks hearing they were sitting down together? the president doesn't give joint interviews.

>> reporter: it's a surprise in the sense that president obama and secretary clinton have never done a joint interview. this is the president's first joint interview with anyone other than the first lady. so certainly a big deal in that sense. this interview will undoubtedly fuel speculation about 2016 . the optics good for secretary clinton because it's coming on the heels of that tough week that she had when she testified before congressional committees about the terrorist attack against the u.s. consulate in benghazi. president obama has said he wanted to do this interview to publicly thank secretary clinton . here's a little snippet of that interview.

>> i think hillary will go down as wouldn't finest secretary of states we've had. it has been a great collaboration over the last four years.

>> a few years ago it would have been seen as improbable. because we have that very long, hard, primary campaign. i worked very hard but i lost. and then president obama asked me to be secretary of state. and i said yes. and why did he ask me and why did i say yes? because we both love our country.

>> reporter: t.j., my sources here at the white house tell me the two have a very strong working relationship. and also share a sense of humor. so it's not uncommon for them to make each other laugh and others laugh who are in the room with them. that certainly is something that folks will be looking for when that interview airs on sunday. t.j.?

>> kristen welker for us at the white house . thank you