7:16 AM PT -- Montel Williams just responded to our story, and he's now clarifying ... he'll vote for whoever can beat Donald Trump in November. If Dems decide that person should be Kamala Harris -- it sounds like he's prepared to back her up.

He also pointed out that he retweeted Gov. Moore's own endorsement of Kamala -- so on its face, it appears he is in fact endorsing her.

Montel Williams didn't endorse Kamala Harris for President after Joe Biden dropped out -- this even though they dated ... something he doesn't wanna talk about with the media.

The former talk show host -- whose brief relationship with the Veep from back in the early 2000s resurfaced amid word that she's now the frontrunner for Dems -- addressed the news about JB exiting stage left with a ringing endorsement of somebody who wasn't Kamala.

Instead, Montel threw his support behind Maryland's governor, Wes Moore, who issued his own statement about the bombshell ... and while he didn't throw his hat in the ring, MW certainly seems to be in his corner regardless.

He wrote ... "I’d love to see @iamwesmoore leading the ticket or otherwise on my ballot and I’m ready to campaign. I’ve watched @GovWesMoore lead my home state of Maryland, and I know leadership when I see it."

Of course, that's a ringing endorsement ... but even after it came out that Biden was backing his VP for the job -- Montel never offered up any further remarks about his former flame ... but best believe people were reaching out to ask him about it.

Montel seemed to already know that he'd be inundated with media requests about his time with Kamala -- and he got ahead of it by warning reporters to NOT ask him about it ... otherwise, his press team would torch 'em.

He hit the point home by writing, "I’ve said what I’m going to say about the thing that keeps trending. My friends in the media should think twice about wasting time on a 20+ year old picture - you will find doing so will earn an unpleasant reaction."

Montel's PR guy posted a screenshot of a convo he had with a journalist who already reached out about this -- calling their inquiry "utterly inappropriate" -- and it sounds like anyone else who does this might have their communications posted publicly.

Like we said ... Montel and Kamala were an item way back in the day -- something MW has already addressed as being ancient history and not being a big deal. Granted, now that she's the odds-on favorite to win the Democratic nomination, that'll be under a microscope anew.

Welcome (back) to the dirty game of politics.