Outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who came tantalizingly close to winning the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago  played down the notion she would run again for the White House in 2016 in comments aired on Wednesday.

Asked during an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters whether she would run for president in 2016  Clinton said: "I ve said I really don t believe that that's something I will do again. I am so grateful I had the experience of doing it before."

"It sounds so simple, but I ve been  as you know, at the highest levels of American and now international activities for 20 years, and I just thought it was time to take a step off ... maybe do some reading and writing and speaking and teaching," Clinton told ABC.