It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill, flat-out denial.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said he had “no earthly idea” whether his wife, Hillary Clinton, would run for president in 2016. But if she does, she’d have his support, he said. Ms. Clinton, 64 years old, is currently U.S. Secretary of State and is expected to leave the Obama administration after the election if President Barack Obama wins a second term in November.

“She’s tired,” Mr. Clinton said. “She works really hard. She wants to take some time off, kind of regroup, write a book.”

He continued: “I just think it’s a decision she’ll have to make. But whatever she does I’m for her first, last, and always.”

His comments were notable because in the past Ms. Clinton has flatly denied having interest in running for the White House. She lost in the Democratic primary to Mr. Obama in 2008.