Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday responded to concerns about her health by calling on opponent Donald Trump to disclose his medical and financial information.
In her first interview since leaving a 9/11 memorial service early on Sunday due to complications from pneumonia and feeling overheated, Clinton admitted that her campaign should have been more transparent about her condition but stressed that Trump should be “held to the same standard, not just as me, but of everybody else who has sought this job.”
On Sunday, Clinton’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, announced that the Democratic nominee was recovering from a bout of pneumonia that she’d been diagnosed with on Friday. The campaign faced criticism for waiting two days to disclose Clinton’s condition.
In response, Clinton told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that she “didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal” and instead turned the focus toward the relative lack of information Trump’s campaign has disclosed about him.
“I’ve talked to my staff. We, you know, take responsibility for that, but the information is out there. You can’t say the same thing about Donald Trump,” she said, arguing that she has been far more transparent than Trump and that her campaign has “already met a high standard of transparency.”
“I think it’s fair to say, Anderson, that people know more about me than almost anyone in public life,” she said. “They’ve got 40 years of my tax returns, tens of thousands of emails, a detailed medical letter report, all kinds of personal details.”
“Compare everything you know about me with my opponent. I think it’s time he met the same level of disclosure that I have for years,” she continued.
Last year, Trump’s physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, wrote a brief letter boasting that the real estate mogul would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Bornstein later admitted that he wrote the letter in five minutes.
In addition, Trump has repeatedly refused to release his tax returns because he claims he is under audit. However, the IRS has noted that audits do not prevent an individual from disclosing their financial information.
Both campaigns have said that they plan to release more medical information later this week.
Clinton canceled a West Coast fundraising trip on Monday to stay home and recuperate. She emphasized to Cooper that she is “feeling so much better” and intends to return to the campaign trail within a few days. She maintained that she felt dizzy and overheated at the event Sunday and did not lose consciousness.
Former President Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose in an interview that aired Monday that Hillary has worked through similar health incidents before.
“On more than one occasion, over the last many, many years, the same sort of thing’s happened to her when she got severely dehydrated, and she’s worked like a demon, as you know, as secretary of state, as a senator, and in the year since,” he said.
Hillary Clinton herself told Cooper that “it is something that has occurred a few times over the course of my life and I’m aware of it and usually can avoid it.”
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