Hillary Clinton, 74, said she will never run for president again after two failed bids for the White House in 2008 and 2016.
The former secretary of state said she will instead do whatever it takes to ensure the person sitting behind the Resolute Desk “respects our democracy” — a comment that carries a lot of weight after President Joe Biden was accused of being Trump supporters a threat to democracy.
“Would you ever run for President again?” CBS reporter Norah O’Donnell interviewed Clinton.
“No, no,” she replied.
“But I will do everything I can to make sure we have a president who respects our democracy and the rule of law and upholds our institutions,” the former New York senator added.
O’Donnell urged Clinton whether she would run if Trump were to run again.
“He should be solidly defeated,” Clinton said after noting she wouldn’t be the one to do it.
“It should start in the Republican Party – grow a backbone! Face this guy!’ she pleaded.
“And heaven forbid, if he gets the nomination, he needs to be flatly defeated and sent back to Mar-a-Lago,” Clinton said.
Clinton is making the rounds to join her daughter Chelsea Clinton in promoting her new AppleTV+ documentaries. The show title Gutsy starts streaming on Friday and will follow the mother-daughter duo on adventures to show “brave and brave” women.
Hillary Clinton said she would never run for president again after two failed White House bids
Appearances on the show include actresses Kate Hudson, Mariska Hargitay and Goldie Hawn, comedian Amy Schumer, Kim Kardashian and soccer player Megan Rapinoe, among others.
When Clinton was asked in March if she was considering another offer from the White House, Clinton also balked at the idea.
MSNBC hosts on Morning Joe asked the former Democratic presidential nominee about the prospect during an interview earlier this year, to which he laughed and said “no.”
“But I will certainly actively support women running for office and other candidates who I think should be re-elected or elected, both women and men,” she said at the time.
The prospect of Biden, 79, running for re-election in 2024 is growing hesitant — a new poll of Democratic lobbyists and advocacy groups shows Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is their next choice if the incumbent doesn’t run.
But any whispers that Clinton was running for the post were put to bed in her CBS interview, in which she said she will never again seek the highest office.
In 2008 she lost the primary to Barack Obama and in 2016 she embarrassingly lost the general election to Trump.
Hillary Clinton is making the media rounds with her daughter Chelsea to promote her new AppleTV+ docu-series Gutsy.
A major issue that lost her support in her party’s moderate factions was an email scandal involving her handling of her government account when she was foreign secretary.
She said in a tweet Tuesday that there was no comparison between deleting her government emails and Trump destroying the device and taking documents from the White House because she claims her emails did not contain ” “secret” information.
“I can’t believe we’re still talking about this but my emails…” Clinton tweeted Tuesday.
She added, “As Trump’s troubles continue to mount, the right wing is trying to do this about me again… The fact is I’ve had zero emails classified as classified.”
“By contrast,” Clinton added in the thread, “Trump has clearly marked hundreds of documents as classified and the investigation has only just begun.”
Trump supporters and defenders have compared the FBI’s handling of Clinton’s private server, used for official state business, to the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as evidence of a double standard within the Justice Department.
During her interview with CBS, which aired Tuesday, Clinton accused Trump of leading a “seditious conspiracy” against the government ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“You know, I was Secretary of State,” she remarked. “I’ve spent many days on planes, flying from place to place, encouraging people to embrace true democracy. And one of the hallmarks of true democracy is the peaceful transfer of power.’
“Was I happy when I beat Donald Trump by almost 3 million votes but lost the electoral college? No, I wasn’t happy. Have I ever thought for a nanosecond, ‘I’m going to claim victory and try to get the Democrats to refuse to confirm the election?’ No.’
Gutsy will follow the Clinton mother-daughter duo on adventures to show women they think are “brave and bold.” The show includes appearances by actresses Kate Hudson and Goldie Hawn, comedian Amy Schumer, Kim Kardashian and women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe
However, Clinton reportedly called Trump an “illegitimate president” and pointed to Russian interference in the 2016 election campaign.
While it’s not clear if Clinton will ever seek public office again, she’s unlikely to seek a post after a long career in public service.
When she was elected to the Senate in 2000, she became the first woman to represent New York in the upper chamber of Congress and the first person to serve simultaneously as a Senator and First Lady of the United States.
She left the Senate shortly into her second term to become Obama’s Secretary of State after losing to him in the Democratic presidential primary, and was later succeeded by John Kerry.
