Former top aide: Hillary Clinton is in ‘good shape’ but has yet to decide on 2016

Longtime Hillary Clinton confidante and former chief of staff Melanne Verveer said in an interview this week that the former secretary of state is in great shape after experiencing health issues but has yet to make a decision about any future political plans.

"Well she’s certainly had a chance to breathe a little bit, to mend after what she’d been through at the end of her term," Verveer told Yahoo News, referring to an illness that led to a concussion and treatment of a blood clot near Clinton's brain. The former first lady took three weeks off work during that time and then returned to office to testify on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, before retiring in early February.

Clinton's tribute to Verveer at Tuesday night's Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in Washington, D.C., was her first public outing since her retirement. Verveer is the former director of the State Department’s office for Global Women’s Issues and the current executive director of Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS.)

"She seemed to be in great shape," Verveer said of Clinton's appearance.

But true rest and retirement don't seem to be on Clinton's agenda, she added.

"She is very active in beginning the work on her memoirs. She’s taken on a whole lot of speech assignments that she’s doing," Verveer said. "I have never known her to be someone who isn’t fully engaged, taking seriously her work and really working as hard as she can work."

And as far as actual down time?

"I don’t think that she takes the kind of down time that some people do," Verveer joked.

[Click to read more on whether Verveer thinks the Obama White House is a "boy's club."]

Questions about Clinton's potential 2016 plans colored coverage and analysis of her appearance on Tuesday night, even though Clinton has stated she has no plans to once again seek the presidency. But Verveer made clear that Clinton has yet to make a decision about a second presidential bid.

"We don’t know if she’s going to run. And I think, you know, 2016 is still a few years away, and she’s been out of office two months and has a lot that she’s already working on," Verveer said. "I think she should do what she wants to do, and we will all support whatever she thinks is best for her at this point."

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