Clinton: 'No interest in running for president again'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it especially clear on Wednesday morning that she was not planning another bid for the presidency.

"I have absolutely no interest in running for president again. None. None," the secretary told ABC's Good Morning America. "I mean, I know that's hard for some people to believe, but, you know, I just -- I just don't."

Pundits have long bristled at the thought that Clinton, a consummate politician, would prematurely bow out of the 2016 presidential contest. Even after the former first lady signaled she was not interested in the job during an NBC interview aired Tuesday, many suggested she was instead concealing her true intentions.

But Clinton did not equivocate during Wednesday's interview, stressing to reporter Cynthia McFadden that the Oval Office was no longer in her crosshair.

"Oh, well, I mean, really, I feel like I have had the most amazing life in my public service," the secretary said in Moscow, where she recently met with Russian diplomats to discuss Iran's nuclear program. "And for the last 17 years, ever since my husband started running for president, I have been, you know, in the spotlight, working hard. And this job is incredibly, all-encompassing. So I think looking forward to maybe taking some time off."

Clinton also provided a few interesting details about her ascent from the Democratic presidential primary to her position as secretary of State. Apparently, Clinton first received word of her prospective nomination about five days after the election -- at which point she thought Obama wanted her husband Bill, not her, to head up the State Department.

"'Oh, no, really.' I said [to Obama], 'Oh, please, there's so many other people who could do this,'" Clinton said of the phone call.

"But, you know, we kept talking. I finally began thinking, look, if I had won and I had called him, I would have wanted him to say yes," she added. "And, you know, I'm pretty old-fashioned, and it's just who I am. So at the end of the day, when your president asks you to serve, you say yes, if you can."