Clinton: ‘I’m feeling great’; was ‘overheated’ at 9/11 event

“I’m surprised it’s mid-September, just a little more than 8 weeks before Election Day, and neither candidate has a protective pool”, tweeted Robert Gibbs, who was Barack Obama’s campaign press secretary at this stage in 2008, before going on to be White House Press Secretary.

The health problem was the latest blow for Clinton at a time when Trump has erased most of her lead in national opinion polls and is competitive again in many battleground states where the November 8 election is likely to be decided.

The pneumonia was diagnosed on Friday after Clinton suffered prolonged coughing bouts related to allergies, Dr. Lisa R. Bardack said in a statement released by Clinton’s campaign. Her doctor said “She was put on antibiotics and advised to rest and modify her schedule”. While at the event, she became overheated and dehydrated”. “The more she pushes, the harder it is for her to recover”, she said.

Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement that the Democratic presidential nominee attended the morning ceremony for 90 minutes “to pay her respects” before departing.

“What I can tell you is that many of us (had) a sigh of relief when a gust of wind would come by because it was incredibly stifling”, Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley, who stood near Clinton for about an hour at the ceremony, told MSNBC. She walked out accompanied by an aide at her elbow. It was sufficiently serious that aides and secret-service agents had to hold her upright, save her from falling and bodily lift her into an armoured van while attempting to keep her out of view.

The witness says she was helped into a van and was taken from the event. And in a column in USA TODAY, former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani said there are unanswered questions about Clinton’s health, although he added that “I hope Secretary Clinton is perfectly healthy”.

Hillary Clinton climbs into her van outside her daughter Chelsea’s home in NY, after resting following her “overheating” episode.

“I’m feeling great, it’s a lovely day in New York”, Clinton said.

No other details about her travel were available.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he didn’t know anything about the incident when asked as he left the ceremony. In a column in USA TODAY, former NY major Rudy Giuliani said there are unanswered questions about Clinton’s health, although he added that “I hope Secretary Clinton is perfectly healthy”.

Instead, in December, Trump’s doctor wrote in a short letter that was made public that his blood pressure and laboratory results “were astonishingly excellent” and that he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.

For months, Trump’s supporters have tried to make the case that Clinton is physically unfit for the White House, citing a concussion she sustained in December 2012 after fainting.

They said they found a blood clot on the brain and Clinton complained of double vision. She was later given the all-clear.

The campaign also did not take reporters in the motorcade after Clinton’s departure from her daughter’s apartment.

But the relative silence from the campaign about her condition Sunday may help propel doubts planted by her rivals, said Jane Hall, a communications professor at American University in Washington.

In a telephone interview, Rep. Joe Crowley of NY told The Associated Press that at one point, he saw what he thought was a staff member tap Clinton on her shoulder.

She blamed a coughing fit during a speech in Cleveland last week on allergies.