Hillary Clinton appeared to stagger and faint in footage showing her
early exit from a 9/11 commemoration ceremony on Sunday, though
Clinton’s doctor said the episode was a result of heat and dehydration
— and revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days prior.
The
Democratic presidential nominee fell on her way into her van and had to
be helped by her security, according to witnesses and video of her
leaving. She was “clearly having some type of medical episode,” a law
enforcement source told Fox News.
After more than an hour of
radio silence, Clinton’s campaign issued a statement saying the former
Secretary of State “felt overheated,” and later Sunday issued another
release blaming the episode on pneumonia and dehydration.
“Secretary
Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies,” Dr. Lisa
R. Bardack said in the statement. “On Friday, during follow up
evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She
was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule.
While at this morning’s event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I
have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering
nicely.”
But a witness told Fox News that Clinton stumbled off the
curb, her “knees buckled” and she lost a shoe as she was helped into a
van during her “unexpected early departure.”
The New Jersey
resident who took the video, Zdenek Gazda, told Foxnews.com he had been a
fireman in the Czech Republic and came to the 9/11 ceremony to pay his
respects.
“Everything was fine, everything was good before,” said
Gazda, who snapped several shots of Clinton before taking the video. “I
take a lot of pictures of her. She looked very nice and everything, and
I don’t know what happened to her.”
After Clinton left the
ceremony, the reporters following her on the campaign trail were
prevented from leaving the media area for a period of time.