An ill Hillary Rodham Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 anniversary ceremony on Sunday and needed to be held up by three people before she appeared to stumble off a curb and was helped into a van.
Several hours later, the US Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and advised to rest.
Less than two months from Election Day, it was an unwanted visual for Clinton as she tries to project the strength and vigor needed for one of the world’s most demanding jobs. Republican rival Donald Trump has spent months questioning Clinton’s health, saying she lacks the stamina to be president.
Photo: AFP
In a statement, Clinton’s doctor, Lisa Bardack, said that the former secretary of state had become overheated and dehydrated at the event in lower Manhattan.
“I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely,” Bardack said.
The physician said Clinton has had an allergy-related cough, and that during a follow-up examination on Friday, the candidate was diagnosed with pneumonia, put on antibiotics, advised to rest and modify her schedule.
Clinton’s departure from the event was not witnessed by the reporters who travel with her campaign and aides provided no information about why she left or her whereabouts for nearly two hours.
Spokesman Nick Merrill eventually said Clinton had gone to her daughter’s nearby apartment, but refused to say whether she had required medical attention.
Clinton exited the apartment on her own shortly before noon.
She waved to reporters and said: “I’m feeling great. It’s a beautiful day in New York.”
In the meantime, a video surfaced on Twitter that showed Clinton being held up by aides as a black van pulls up. She stumbles and appears to fall off the curb as she is helped inside.
After leaving her daughter’s apartment, Clinton was driven to her home in Chappaqua, New York, and made no public appearances. She later called off plans to fly to California yesterday morning for two days of fundraising, campaign events and an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show.
Trump, who attended the same event marking the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, was noticeably restrained.
Asked about Clinton’s health incident, Trump said: “I don’t know anything.”
Clinton is sure to face new questions about whether she’s physically fit for the presidency. Trump and his supporters have been hinting at potential health issues for months, questioning Clinton’s stamina when she takes routine days off the campaign trail and reviving questions about a concussion she sustained in December 2012 after fainting. Her doctor attributed that episode to a stomach virus and dehydration.
Clinton’s doctor reported she is fully recovered from the concussion, which led to temporary double vision and discovery of a blood clot in a vein in the space between her brain and skull. Clinton has also experienced deep vein thrombosis, a clot usually in the leg, and takes the blood thinner Coumadin to prevent new clots.
Clinton spent about 90 minutes at the 9/11 event on Sunday, standing alongside numerous other dignitaries, including New York Democratic senators Chuck Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand. The weather was warm and humid in New York on Sunday, and there was a breeze at the crowded memorial plaza during the ceremony.
Democratic Representative Joe Crowley said he spent time before the ceremony chatting with Clinton and watching her sign autographs and take pictures.
He said he was standing behind her during the remembrance and “she did not seem out of the ordinary at all.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing