US President Barack Obama has privately met his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the White House, fuelling speculation about the latter’s imminent announcement on a presidential run in 2016.

“President Obama and Secretary Clinton enjoy catching-up in person when their schedules permit. This afternoon they met privately for about an hour at the White House and discussed a range of topics,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said after the unannounced meeting yesterday.

The Obama-Clinton relationship will be closely watched as she runs to succeed her former rival in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

Obama and Clinton have met occasionally since she left the administration in 2013 after serving as secretary of state.

This was the first meeting between the two after the eruption of Clinton’s email controversy.

Clinton has come under criticism recently for only using her private email address while working as the nation’s top diplomat.

Moments after the White House confirmed the meeting, Clinton posted a message on Twitter praising Obama’s health care law and its provisions aimed at covering young people and those with pre-existing conditions.

The two celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act with a hug to distance her campaign from rivals seeking to repeal the president’s health reforms.

The conservative senator Ted Cruz, who promised to repeal the health care law, yesterday became the first Republican candidate to formally seek his party’s nomination for the 2016 presidential election.

Clinton was in Washington to speak at a roundtable on urban policy at the Center for American Progress, headed by Indian-American Neera Tanden.

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