Hillary Clinton returning to the White House for an arts event next week
FILE - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks during the International Women’s Day in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March 8, 2023. Clinton is set to make a rare public appearance at the White House since losing her 2016 bid for the presidency, attending an arts event on Sept. 12, 2023, with first lady Jill Biden. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to make a rare public appearance at the White House, attending an arts event next week with first lady Jill Biden.
The White House announced that Clinton is scheduled to appear Tuesday to help honor the 2023 winners of the Praemium Imperiale, a global prize awarded annually by the Japan Art Association for lifetime achievement in the arts.
Praemium Imperiale laureates were first celebrated at the White House by President Bill Clinton and the then-first lady in 1994.
Bill Clinton had lunch with Biden at the White House in May 2022, a month after former President Barack Obama returned to the White House for the first time since the end of his administration for an event celebrating his signature health care law.
Hillary Clinton, a former New York senator who served as Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, lost her 2016 bid for the presidency to Donald Trump.
The White House announcement means next Tuesday’s event is set to go forward despite the first lady testing positive for COVID on Monday. She is recuperating in Delaware, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that “the first lady is doing well.”
Jean-Pierre said the president tested negative for COVID on Wednesday morning, following negative tests the previous two days. He is scheduled to leave Thursday for India to attend the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, and later travel to Vietnam and Alaska.