ALARMING VIDEO: Hillary Clinton, barely able to stand, stumbles into vehicle aided by five members of her entourage after “medical episode”:
Update, 9/12/16: Clinton has cancelled all events for Monday and Tuesday, dropping out of a planned West Coast junket, as well as two top-dollar Hollywood fundraisers and an appearance on Ellen.
Clinton will still call in to one of the planned fundraisers, hosted by Seth MacFarlane. The other fundraiser may be pushed back, as will a planned meeting with Silicon Valley bigwigs that was supposed to happen Monday in San Francisco. Clinton’s team maintains that she will be back on the road by Wednesday, when she’s scheduled to give a speech in Las Vegas.
Although the campaign did not acknowledge Clinton’s ill health and pneumonia diagnosis until late yesterday, campaign officials told People magazine (not your typical political reporting outlet) that a “respiratory illness” had been circulating through Clinton’s staff “for weeks.” According to staffers, two high-ranking campaign officials had to receive emergency medical treatment, and even campaign manager Robby Mook was affected.
Meanwhile, Democrats appear to be in crisis mode, with rumors flying that top DNC officials are considering alternate plans in case Clinton is unable to finish out the campaign. Donald Trump, who says he will not comment too harshly on Clinton’s present health, calls the revelations an “issue’ and says that he will release his own comprehensive medical records later this week.
Update, 5:30pm: Clinton’s doctor, Dr. Lisa R. Bardack, M.D., now claims that the Presidential candidate is suffering from pneumonia, causing both her collapse this morning, and a spate of breathing issues from earlier this week, characterized by a dry, hacking cough.
Bardack says she diagnosed and treated Clinton for pneumonia on Friday.
Dr. Lisa R. Bardack, M.D., Clinton's doctor, says the Democratic nominee has pneumonia. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/qloLbhjdZy
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) September 11, 2016
Clinton has been advised to ease back on campaign events while she recovers.
Clinton doctor: On Friday she was diagnosed with pneumonia. “ she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely.”
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) September 11, 2016
Clinton’s team did not explain why the press wasn’t informed of the diagnosis until today.
Update, 5:00pm: Clinton is now said to be home in Chappaqua and “feeling much better,” according to her campaign.
Meanwhile a second angle of the above video has surfaced, giving viewers a clearer look at the moments before Clinton pitched forward into the arms of her Secret Service agents.
Videos show "overheated" Hillary Clinton stumbling as Secret Service help her to car https://t.co/VYCxHET3ex pic.twitter.com/lx3GfOVoSQ
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) September 11, 2016
Republican nominee Donald Trump had remained largely silent in the immediate wake of Clinton’s medical episode.
Trump commented briefly on it at an afternoon press conference, telling media that the incident shows that Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS & all of the many adversaries.” He quickly pivoted back to September 11 memorial events.
Trump: "[@HillaryClinton] lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS & all of the many adversaries." pic.twitter.com/E0aqVp87zi
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 11, 2016
UPDATE, 12:45pm: Clinton’s campaign team says that the candidate is now returning to her home in Chappaqua, New York. Press are not invited.
Clinton’s press spokesperson says she “felt overheated” but insists she has now fully recovered from what one source described to Heat Street as a “medical episode.”
Clinton is heading home to Chappaqua, per the campaign. But the press pool is not being permitted to travel with her.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) September 11, 2016
She waved at cameras as she left Chelsea Clinton’s apartment where she recovered from the incident.
Clinton waves to cameras as she exits Chelsea Clinton's apartment after becoming "overheated" at 9/11 memorial event pic.twitter.com/UBwpz6p5QC
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 11, 2016
Some law enforcement sources, speaking to the Daily Beast, cast doubt on the campaign’s explanation that the episode was heat related, telling reporters that Clinton looked “pale” and unwell when she arrived at the memorial service this morning.
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Hillary Clinton’s campaign has hit big trouble on the most solemn day of the year. At the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony, Clinton “fainted” according to a law enforcement source that spoke to a Fox News reporter.
Her press pool was then penned in away from her with no knowledge of Secretary Clinton’s whereabouts or health. When reporters were let out, Clinton, 68, had already left the ceremony.
BREAKING: law enf source: Hillary Clinton just left 9/11 ceremony w/medical episode, appeared to faint on way into van, helped by security
— RickLeventhalFoxNews (@RickLeventhal) September 11, 2016
As a former New York Senator, Secretary Clinton would have been expected to attend the 9/11 ceremony and be present and prominent throughout, to honor the victims of Islamist terrorism.
Pool of reporters who protectively travel w/Hillary Clinton are being penned in at 9/11 memorial, not informed of her current whereabouts.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) September 11, 2016
NBC News then tweeted that Secretary Clinton had “a medical episode”. The tweet was later hastily deleted and replaced by this:
Removed earlier tweet about Clinton incident at 9/11 Ceremony. Conflicting reports on details of incident — more to come as it develops.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 11, 2016
Fox News reported that (as the video shows) that Secretary Clinton’s knees buckled as she was helped into her high-security van during her early departure from the memorial. Fox reports that Clinton lost her shoe during the incident.
The Clinton-friendly Washington Post is now quoting sources from her campaign saying the Secretary felt “overheated”.
“Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen,” Nick Merrill said, according to the Post. “During the ceremony, she felt overheated, so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment and is feeling much better.”
The temperature in Manhattan late morning was 82 degrees and breezy in the area of the 9/11 Memorial which is on the water.
As for the site of Secretary Clinton’s convalescence, it is sure to have air conditioning. Chelsea Clinton and her family live in a $10.5 million “luxury fortress” that stretches over a full city block in New York’s exclusive Madison Square Park neighborhood.
Outside Chelsea Clinton's Manhattan apartment where Hillary Clinton is resting after feeling ill. pic.twitter.com/1mAgTyhxsE
— Talal Ansari (@TalalNAnsari) September 11, 2016
The U.S. political editor of Britain’s Daily Mail, urged sensitivity for the Democratic presidential nominee during her “apparently acute health crisis.”
Being gleeful about Hillary's apparently acute health crisis is not the way to go today, folks. No one should root for anyone to suffer.
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) September 11, 2016
Perhaps today’s health incident may stir the mainstream media to pull their heads out of the sand on the legitimate questions swirling around Secretary Clinton’s health.
A gravely ill FDR gave away Eastern Europe to Stalin at Yalta. pic.twitter.com/0WpVBlAiZe
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) September 11, 2016
We must now ask when will the would-be Commander in Chief come clean with the American people about the state of her health?
Is a vote for Hillary actually a vote for her Vice-Presidential nominee Tim Kaine?
And does the woman who took extensive steps to keep her emails from a government server think she has the right to keep her evidently huge health problems secret from the American people?
This post will be updated as further details emerge.
