Story highlights Clinton lost to Trump in the 2016 election

She has reemerged in the public eye

Washington (CNN) Hillary Clinton's speech Wednesday night to a group of businesswomen in San Francisco may have been the most political she has been since losing November's election. But people close to the former secretary of state stress the speech doesn't foretell a more forceful jump back into the political fray.

The small group of Clinton aides who are still in regular contact with the 2016 Democratic nominee say Clinton, through a series of speeches she will give in the coming months, won't shy away from defending "core American values" when they are questioned or challenged.

Does that mean she will take on Trump and his administration if needed? Yes, advisers say, as was clear by Tuesday's broadside against White House press secretary Sean Spicer. But, to date, Clinton has tried not to hone her critiques directly at the President, who she has not spoken to since she conceded to him early in the morning on November 9.

"I know there's a tendency to ascribe political motives to all she does. But what you saw yesterday was simply a woman who isn't going to stand by and watch other women be bullied, insulted and demeaned," said Nick Merrill, Clinton's spokesman. "And more broadly, as you heard her say in her speech, when it comes to standing up for core American values, she's going to speak out."

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