Podesta tamps down Clinton 2020 chatter: ‘She’s not running’

Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chairman John Podesta on Tuesday tamped down on speculation that the former Democratic presidential nominee may seek another White House bid in 2020, calling the idea “media catnip” and stressing that Clinton “is not running.”

“She says she’s not running for president,” Podesta said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

He added that the former secretary of State is currently “in Puerto Rico trying to help the people, that Donald Trump has abandoned, through the Clinton Foundation. Trying to bring some relief to the people of Puerto Rico.”

“I take her at her word. She’s not running for president,” he said.{mosads}

Podesta added that Democrats already “have a lot of great candidates out there right now.”

“I think the Democratic primary will be a spirited one with a lot of great ideas coming forward,” he said. “I think she would’ve been a great president, but that’s in the past.”

“If you’re directing a senior official in a campaign, there aren’t very many suspects.”

John Podesta, whose emails were hacked, and then released by Wikileaks, offers his thoughts on Robert Mueller’s investigation, and Roger Stone’s indictment.https://t.co/XtRSKomU3d pic.twitter.com/X0HplWYjjm

— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) January 29, 2019

Podesta’s comments come after CNN White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny reported Sunday that Clinton hasn’t ruled out making another bid for the White House in 2020.

“I’m told by three people that as recently as this week, she was telling people that look, given all this news from the indictments, particularly the Roger Stone indictment, she talked to several people, saying ‘look, I’m not closing the doors to this,’ ” Zeleny said during a roundtable on CNN’s “Inside Politics.”