William Cummings

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton definitively declared on Monday "I'm not running" in the 2020 presidential election, again throwing cold water on the still smoldering rumors that she might go for a 2016 rematch against President Donald Trump.

"I'm not running, but I'm going to keep working and speaking and standing up for what I believe," she said in an interview with News 12, a regional cable news network in New York. "I'm not going anywhere."

Clinton has been an outspoken critic of her 2016 opponent and his administration's policies since her defeat. On Twitter and in public appearances, she has spoken out on issues ranging from migrant children separated from their families by immigration officials, to gun control and voter suppression.

"What's at stake in our country, the kinds of things that are happening right now are deeply troubling to me," she told News 12. "We've gotten, not just polarized, we've gotten really into opposing camps, unlike anything that I have seen in my adult life."

It was not the first time Clinton has said she wasn't running, but despite her protestations, rumors that she was considering a run persisted. Former Clinton adviser Mark Penn wrote an op-ed in November for The Wall Street Journal predicting she would make another run.

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At the end of January, CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported that "Clinton is telling people that she's not closing the doors to the idea of running in 2020."

Clinton herself fueled some of the speculation when she conceded, "I'd like to be president," even as she denied wanting to run again in an interview ahead of the midterm elections.

The sense that she might want another shot at Trump has also been kept alive in part by Clinton's comments expressing frustration at the 2016 result and the sense that she was robbed of victory. Since the election, Clinton has blamed her loss on former FBI Director James Comey, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the news media, sexism and Sen. Bernie Sanders among other factors.

But former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said to "take her at her word" when she says she is not running, in response to Zeleny's report.

"I think she would have been a great president but that's in the past, and she said she's not running," Podesta told CNN in January.

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