Oprah is 'actively' thinking about running for president after her rousing Golden Globes speech

Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Oprah Winfrey.

• Two of Oprah Winfrey's close confidants say she's "actively" considering a 2020 presidential bid.
• The news came after Winfrey's high-profile speech at Sunday's Golden Globe awards.

Two of billionaire businesswoman Oprah Winfrey's closest friends told CNN on Monday that she is "actively thinking" about running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2020.

One source told the network that conversations about her possible presidential bid date back months, but they emphasized that she has not yet made up her mind about a bid.

The news followed Winfrey's rousing speech from Sunday's Golden Globe awards. She was the subject of lavish praise afterward. Speaking after she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award, she delivered a roughly nine-minute speech that received a standing ovation from the audience.

"I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this," she said. "What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I'm especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to share their personal stories."

Referencing the "Me Too" movement, Winfrey capped her speech with a call to action.

"I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon, and when that new day finally dawns it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time where nobody ever has to say 'me too' again," she said.

Earlier in the evening, host Seth Meyers joked about Winfrey's possible White House bid.

"Oprah, in 2011, I told some jokes about our current president at the White House Correspondents Dinner - jokes about how he was unqualified to be president - and some have said that night convinced him to run," he said. "So if that's true, I just want to say: Oprah, you will never be president! You do not have what it takes!"

Winfrey recently shot down the idea of a possible presidential bid, telling "CBS This Morning" host Gayle King that there "will be no running for office of any kind for me."

But that has done little to squash rumors of her possible bid, which, similarly to President Donald Trump prior to his 2016 bid, has been a years-long rumor.

Screenshot/YouTube

Donald Trump and Winfrey.

'Anyway, who cares, I adore Oprah'

During a March conversation with David Rubenstein, the CEO of the private-equity giant Carlyle Group, Winfrey said that Trump's victory caused her to give the idea of her own bid more consideration.

"I actually never thought that was ... I never considered the question even a possibility," Winfrey said during Rubenstein's Bloomberg TV interview show. "I just thought, 'Oh, oh.'"

"I thought, 'I don't have the experience, I don't know enough,'" Winfrey added. "And now I'm thinking, 'Oh. Oh.'"

That same month, the left-leaning polling firm Public Policy Polling surveyed voters and found that Winfrey would lead Trump in a hypothetical 2020 matchup 47% to 40%.

Winfrey and Trump have a long-standing relationship, with Trump having appeared on Winfrey's famed daytime talk show on multiple occassions, even discussing his possible future presidency during an appearance decades ago.

Trump has also tweeted about Winfrey on a number of occassions, expressing his admiration for her.

"By the way, where is @Oprah?" Trump tweeted prior to the 2012 presidential election. "Good question. 4 years ago she strongly supported Obama - now she is silent. Anyway, who cares, I adore Oprah."