Campaign 2016 updates: Donald Trump says he’ll release new medical records; Hillary Clinton follows suit

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton said Monday that she ignored her doctor’s advice to rest for five days after she was diagnosed with pneumonia.

“I’m feeling so much better. Obviously I should have gotten some rest sooner,” Clinton told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a phone interview from her home in Chappaqua, N.Y. “Like a lot of people, I thought I could keep going forward and power through it, and obviously that didn’t work out so well.”

Clinton said she would return to the campaign trail “in the next couple days.”

Clinton made the remarks a day after she abruptly left a Sept. 11 ceremony because she felt overheated. Video emerged of Clinton struggling to stand and needing assistance to get in her van, leading to speculation that the Democratic presidential nominee had fainted.

Clinton said she did not lose consciousness.

“I felt dizzy and I did lose my balance for a minute, but once I got in [the van], once I could sit down, once I could cool off, once I had some water, I immediately started feeling better,” she said.

Clinton acknowledged previously feeling unwell because of dehydration.

“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,” she said.

She added that she ignored her doctor’s advice and attended the memorial because she was representing New York as a senator when the terrorists attacked. “It was incredibly personal for me.”

Clinton’s campaign has come under criticism for not releasing the pneumonia diagnosis Friday, the day it was made, and for not telling the press traveling with her what happened for about 90 minutes after she left the ceremony.

Clinton pushed back at the notion that she had not been transparent, noting that she had released 40 years of tax returns, tens of thousands of emails, and a medical note from her physician that contained the same information as previous nominees of both parties.

She argued that Republican rival Donald Trump, who has not released his tax returns and very little medical information, needs to provide more details about his background.

“People know more about me than almost anyone in public life,” she said. “… 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.”

Trump and Clinton plan to release additional medical information this week.

(Brian Blanco / Getty Images)

Donald Trump brought a diverse group of supporters, including an African American couple and a pastor, onstage with him Monday night to slap back at rival Hillary Clinton’s claim that many of his backers are “deplorables.”

“I am probably a lot of things. Deplorable is not one of them, I reassure you,” said one woman at an evening rally in Asheville, N.C. “We are going to make America great again, and Hillary needs to take a nap!”

Trump said the group he brought onstage represented his supporters throughout the nation as he tried to keep attention focused on the comment Clinton made Friday night that half of Trump supporters were a “basket of deplorables” who held racist, sexist and other views that are contrary to the nation’s values.

Clinton later apologized for saying the group amounted to half of Trump’s supporters but did not back down from her claim that a segment of the Republican presidential nominee’s backers hold such views.

Trump said Clinton showed her true beliefs when she made the comment at a New York fundraiser.

“Hillary Clinton spoke with hatred in her heart to these working-class Americans, absolute hatred in her heart,” he said. “… She called these Americans every name in the book – racist, sexist, xenophobic, Islamophobic – she said they were not even American…. Never in history has a major-party presidential candidate so viciously demonized the American voter.”

Through this year’s presidential race, Trump has been criticized by Democrats as well as some Republicans for his insults against Mexican immigrants, women, Muslims, the disabled and war veterans.

On Monday, Trump avoided discussing the other major development in the presidential race – Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis and dehydration at a Sept. 11 ceremony in New York on Sunday.

He was interrupted by about a dozen protesters who were escorted out by security. Video posted by ABC News shows a Trump supporter slapping at three of them as they were being led away.

Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that wife Hillary’s unsteadiness the previous day was prompted by nothing more than dehydration, and that the Democratic presidential nominee had experienced similar episodes in the past.

“She’s doing fine…. She had a good night’s sleep. She just got dehydrated yesterday,” Clinton told Charlie Rose in an interview that will air on PBS tonight and CBS Tuesday morning. “Rarely, 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.”

On Sunday, Hillary Clinton struggled to remain standing as she abruptly left a 9/11 ceremony after becoming overheated. Her campaign later announced that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

Hillary Clinton canceled a trip to California on Monday, and her husband plans to stand in for her at fundraisers and campaign events in Beverly Hills and Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clinton said he was pleased his wife decided to take a break from the campaign but doubted she would stay away long.

“I’ll be lucky to hold her back another day,” he said.

President Bill Clinton will fill in for his wife on the campaign trail in California and Nevada this week as she recuperates from pneumonia, according to an aide to the former president.

Hillary Clinton had been scheduled to attend two fundraisers in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, including a dinner at the home of Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller for which tickets cost $100,000 per couple. Instead, her husband will now headline these fundraisers, as well as campaign and donor events around Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Hillary Clinton was also supposed to tape an appearance on “The Ellen Show” on Tuesday. It’s unclear whether the former president will appear on the show instead.

His wife is recovering at their New York home after falling ill with pneumonia. She was diagnosed with the lung infection on Friday, but it did not become publicly known until Sunday, when Clinton struggled to stand as she abruptly left a 9/11 ceremony after overheating.

On Monday, Clinton tweeted that she was recovering and looking forward to returning to the campaign trail.

“Thanks to everyone who’s reached out with well wishes! I’m feeling fine and getting better,” Clinton tweeted. “Like anyone who’s ever been home sick from work, I’m just anxious to get back out there. See you on the trail soon.”

As Hillary Clinton recovers from pneumonia, running mate Tim Kaine was introduced Monday as “ready to become the president” if necessary, according to multiple media reports.

The remark, by Ohio’s former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland at an event in Dayton, immediately raised eyebrows given the events of the previous 24 hours.

On Sunday, Clinton’s campaign revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia, following her abrupt early departure from a 9/11 ceremony in New York.

Kaine dismissed concerns about Clinton’s health at the Dayton campaign rally, according to a Washington Examiner report. He said he spoke with her immediately after he heard the news and she joked with him about his debate preparations.

“So she was immediately responding back and joking around, but I know you’re thinking about her, and I am, too,” Kaine said. “Her energy staggers me. I have a hard time keeping up. And we know she’s going to be fantastic. She’ll be a fantastic president.”

He blamed speculation about Clinton’s health on her opponents.

“I think that is part of her political enemies’ attempt to conjure up a rumor that could hurt her politically,” he told reporters, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “I don’t think there’s any evidence she has any serious chronic, health conditions that could make it difficult for her to serve as president.”

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager said Monday that the Democratic presidential nominee did not faint when she stumbled as she abruptly left a 9/11 ceremony the prior day.

“She did not lose consciousness. She stumbled getting into the van,” said Robby Mook during an interview on MSNBC.

Clinton overheated during the ceremony in New York City and left early. A video emerged of the candidate struggling to stand, her knees appearing to buckle and needing physical assistance to get into a van.

The video prompted widespread speculation on whether Clinton had fainted, as she did in 2012 when she had the flu and ended up suffering a concussion and blot clot in the brain.

Hours after Clinton left the ceremony, her campaign revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and placed on antibiotics. Despite her doctor’s advise to rest, Clinton pressed on with her schedule, including a national security meeting, several media interviews and a fundraiser headlined by Barbra Streisand on Friday evening.

Mook repeatedly refused to answer whether he or other members of Clinton’s staff knew that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. He did say illness has been spreading in recent weeks in the campaign’s Brooklyn headquarters.

“A lot of us got sick over last few weeks. I probably came in a few more days than I should have,” Mook said.

Mook added that Clinton would return to the campaign trail and release updated medical information later this week.

President Obama has no concerns about Hillary Clinton’s health despite a bout with pneumonia, the White House said Monday.

The health episode “does not impact his assessment that she is the best person in the country to succeed him in the Oval Office,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.

Earnest noted that while Clinton served as secretary of State during Obama’s first term, she maintained a rigorous travel schedule.

“She pulled long hours. She bore a significant burden, both mentally and physically. And she didn’t just succeed in that role, she thrived,” he said.

Earnest said he was not aware of any conversations between the two top Democrats in recent days. Obama is set to stump for his party’s presidential nominee Tuesday in Philadelphia, his first public campaign appearance since the Democratic convention there in July.

Donald Trump, who has defined his campaign by repeatedly refusing to back down from controversial comments, said Monday that Hillary Clinton should be disqualified from leading the country and should apologize for labeling half of his supporters “deplorables.”

“You can’t lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens,” Trump said during a speech in Baltimore in front of the National Guard Assn.

The turnabout from Trump marks what his campaign believes is an important moment: an opportunity to put Clinton on the defensive for calling millions of his supporters racist, homophobic and Islamophobic. Trump renewed his argument that Clinton was following an old Democratic playbook, to push back against voters who want change by branding them intolerant.

Trump’s support from alt-right groups and nativists — combined with his own inflammatory rhetoric about President Obama’s citizenship and Mexicans crossing the border — has cost him support among moderate voters, especially suburban women.

“People who want their immigration laws enforced, and their borders secured, are not racists,” Trump said. “They are patriotic Americans of all backgrounds who want their jobs and families protected.”

Trump on Monday cast Clinton’s remarks as part of a larger theme, that Clinton is an elitist who feels the rules do not apply to her while demeaning working-class Americans.

“She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh,” Trump said, recalling Clinton’s Friday night comments at a New York fundraising event.

They were really laughing “at the very people who paved the roads,” who “paint the buildings she speaks in,” and who perform other hard jobs, Trump said.

“Hillary Clinton lives a sequestered life behind gates and walls and guards,” he said, accusing her of mocking and demeaning hardworking Americans.

Trump said her comments showed “the same sense of arrogance and entitlement” that led her to delete her emails, leave sensitive information on a private server and, he claimed, sell government access through the Clinton Foundation.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton plans to release additional health records, responding to fresh concerns about her well-being and a challenge from Donald Trump.

Clinton will release documents that reveal the type of pneumonia she is suffering from and the medical circumstances around her falling ill Sunday, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on MSNBC on Monday. She faltered and needed to be supported by Secret Services agents after abruptly leaving a 9/11 memorial service at ground zero.

“In the next couple of days we’re going to be releasing additional medical information about Hillary Clinton,” Fallon said.

“We are going to be releasing that to further put to rest any lingering concerns about what you saw yesterday,” he said.

The campaign is making the move after long resisting disclosing medical records beyond a letter provided last year from Clinton’s physician, attesting to her good health. Donald Trump has similarly balked at providing medical records beyond such a letter.

Trump said earlier Monday that he had been examined last week and planned to disclose new records. Fox News reported that Trump would release the new records during an appearance on “Dr. Oz” on Thursday.

Fallon struggled to explain why the Clinton campaign did not disclose her condition until two days after she was diagnosed and a video emerged showing her stumbling.

The campaign has also come under fire for keeping the small group of reporters tasked with tracking Clinton’s movements in the dark for hours about what was going on and where Clinton was going after she departed ground zero.

Helen Aguirre Ferre, shown at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, has one of the hardest jobs in politics today — selling Donald Trump to Latino voters.

(Noah Bierman / Los Angeles Times)

It would be hard to find a more potent example of the Latino success story than Helen Aguirre Ferre.

Her family, of Nicaraguan descent on her father’s side, started Miami’s earliest Spanish-language newspaper in the 1950s, easing the cultural transition for the waves of exiles who fled Cuba after Fidel Castro took control. Her Puerto Rico-born father-in-law served as the city’s first Latino mayor in the 1970s and 1980s, marking Miami as a multicultural capital.

Aguirre Ferre then carved her own path as a columnist, television host and radio personality in two languages. As the chairwoman of the nation’s largest community college, Miami Dade, she provided comfort, vigorous political support and financial aid for immigrants in the country illegally who were seeking a slice of American prosperity.

So it was more than a big leap, and nothing less than a shock to many who know her, when Aguirre Ferre cast aside her sharp criticism of Donald Trump to become his chief marketer to the nation’s Latino voters.

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Hillary Clinton’s campaign made a hedged concession Monday that it did not handle revelations about her illness very well.

A tweet from communications director Jen Palmieri acknowledging shortcomings was far from a full-throated apology, but it was nonetheless rare. Clinton has been heavily criticized for her secrecy, most recently after she left a 9/11 commemoration Sunday and waited 90 minutes to inform the public that she had been ill.

Palmieri’s tweet came after criticism from David Axelrod, a former political strategist for President Obama who is known to call out Clinton in his job as an analyst.

Though Hillary Clinton’s now well-documented case of pneumonia forced her to skip a California trip, she is trying to show that she remains engaged in this crucial phase of the presidential campaign.

Her spokesman, Nick Merrill, said she plans to teleconference in to a fundraiser Monday in San Francisco, “which is proceeding as scheduled in her absence.”

In addition to missing fundraisers in California, Clinton also had to cancel a taped interview for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

The Republican who leads the House Homeland Security Committee said he spoke with Donald Trump Sunday to school him that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not our friend.”

“I urged caution when it comes to this man,” Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, a Trump supporter, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “He respects him in terms of his strength, being a strong man. I think Mr. Trump envisions himself in that light as well. But [I] urged caution to not think that we can embrace him.”

Did Trump get the message? Maybe not, according to McCaul, who, like many in his party views Putin as a “very dangerous man.”

“Well, his advisors do,” McCaul said.

Judges at the Miss America pageant gave Miss New York Camille Sims 20 seconds to answer a question that seems to plague public figures this year: “What do you think of Donald Trump?”

Sims laid out her response without hesitation — but with a laugh.

“I think he’s a bright reminder of how our country needs to come together. If you don’t agree with his message, then it’s time to decide where you stand in this debate,” Sims said. “As Americans, we need to make sure that we come together, represent what it means to be American — which is celebrating all people from all backgrounds.”

Miss Arkansas Savvy Shields, the competition’s 2017 winner, fielded a similar question on Hillary Clinton, but simply warned both candidates to watch their actions. She also added that truth is hard to follow in this election cycle with the media’s “love to sensationalize everything.”

That didn’t take long. Donald Trump’s campaign said Monday it would begin running a new television ad in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida highlighting Hillary Clinton’s comments from Friday night that referred to half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”

The comments, made at a fundraiser, have forced Clinton into a defensive posture. Trump has relished the opportunity to go after Clinton’s rhetoric, a rare moment in the campaign that has been dominated by Trump’s explosive comments.

The campaign did not say how much it would spend on the ad. But the four states targeted are key to Trump’s difficult path to victory. Trump and his campaign have already compared Clinton’s comments to Mitt Romney’s 2012 remark asserting that 47% of the population would never vote for him because they depend on government handouts. Democrats campaigned relentlessly on the statement, believing it alienated many of the voters Romney was seeking to attract.

The new ad shows footage of Clinton making the comments at a fundraiser in New York.

“The racists, sexists, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it,” Clinton says, ticking off a catalog of groups she lists within the Trump coalition.

The ad’s faceless narrator says Clinton is really talking about “people like you... you... and you.”

“You know what’s deplorable?” the narrator continues. “Hillary Clinton viciously demonizing hard working people like you.”

The Secret Service disputed reports that agents broke protocol when escorting an ill Hillary Clinton from a 9/11 commemoration in New York on Sunday.

The Democratic presidential nominee left the event early, and her campaign later revealed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

The Secret Service was responding to a Washington Post report citing former agents saying that video of Clinton showed agents breaking protective protocol. However, the newspaper later backed off that characterization.

“This story has been updated to remove the assertion that the Secret Service may have broken protocol in responding to Clinton’s illness, which was published before the agency was able to respond,” an editor’s note accompanying a later version of the article said.

Donald Trump has been trying to stay out of the news for the last 24 hours to let Hillary Clinton baste in her own politically problematic juices. So much for that.

In the course of about three minutes of an interview with CNBC on Monday, his second television spot of the morning, the GOP presidential nominee accused Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen of being in the tank for President Obama, and dismissed the independence of the FBI and Department of Justice. He also again casually called Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas.”

This is typical Trump, of course, and may not even make much news. But it’s a perfect illustration of how his provocations are now so frequent that many are taken for granted.

Start with Warren. The Pocahontas crack is an old one -- related to her undocumented claims of Cherokee heritage -- and considered offensive to many Native Americans. But even as politicians are coached not to punch downward, Trump seems unable to resist engaging with Warren, a frequent critic of the candidate.

Then it was on to Yellen, head of the Fed, a largely independent government agency. Trump did not only question her leadership, he suggested she was taking actions to help Obama.

“She’s keeping them [interest rates] artificially low to get Obama retired. ... It’s a very serious problem,” Trump said, citing his concern that interest rates will rise in the future.

“I think she’s very political, and to a certain extent I think she should be ashamed of herself,” Trump added.

The Fed has been edging toward raising interest rates this year, but mixed economic news has slowed that plan.

Then it was on to federal law enforcement, which Trump has criticized for failing to prosecute Clinton for sending classified email on her private server.

“I used to think that the Justice Department worked independently also,” Trump said. “I used to think that the FBI was independent also. But that’s obviously not possible because Hillary Clinton is guilty as hell and everybody knows it.”

The FBI and Justice Department recently concluded that althought Clinton’s handling of classified material was “careless,” her actions did not merit criminal prosecution.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton will be missing out on several fundraising stops and a rare California campaign event because of her illness.

Clinton felt ill during a 9/11 commemoration Sunday in New York and had to leave early, and her doctor later said she was recovering from a bout of pneumonia that had been diagnosed on Friday.

Clinton was scheduled to raise money in San Francisco on Monday and Los Angeles on Tuesday, including a big-ticket affair at the home of Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller.

She was also expected to make a rare public appearance in California -- a state so reliably Democratic that presidential nominees usually don’t bother stumping there -- with a speech on the economy.

The campaign hasn’t said whether Clinton will still make her previously scheduled trip to Las Vegas on Wednesday for more campaigning.

Meanwhile, her allies are still hitting the road to campaign for her. President Obama is heading to Philadelphia on Tuesday, and First Lady Michelle Obama is expected to be in northern Virginia on Friday. Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, is stumping in Ohio on Monday and Michigan on Tuesday.

Donald Trump said Monday that he had a recent physical and will release the results shortly, putting pressure on presidential campaign rival Hillary Clinton to reveal more about her health.

“I’ll be releasing very, very specific numbers,” Trump said on “Fox and Friends.” “The report should be finished this week.”

Trump had been uncharacteristically silent Sunday after Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 commeration in New York with what her campaign said was pneumonia. Trump has repeatedly questioned Clinton’s strength and stamina.

“Something’s going on,” Trump said Monday, using a locution he often chooses to drop suggestive hints or highlight conspiracy theories. “But I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail.”

Trump also used the friendly interview to hammer home Clinton’s comments from Friday, when she labeled half of his supporters “a basket of deplorables.”

Trump said the comment was “much worse” than Mitt Romney’s 2012 remark that 47% of Americans would never vote for him because they depended on government handouts.

“It’s the single biggest mistake of the political season,” Trump declared.

For Trump, who has spent most of the campaign taking criticism for his own provocative statements, it was an opportunity to show outrage at his opponent’s words.

“Personally, when I heard it, I thought it was not something within the realm of possible that she said it,” Trump said. “It was said with such anger, such unbelievable anger.”

Trump said many of his supporters have already been left behind.

“You’re going to be president, you’re president of all the people. You’re not president of 50% or 75%,” he said.

Hillary Clinton leaves a 9/11 commemoration in New York after feeling unwell.

(Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton’s abrupt departure from a 9/11 ceremony in New York after falling ill Sunday, and the subsequent disclosure that she is suffering from pneumonia, are likely to intensify scrutiny on the Democratic nominee’s health and potentially inject a new campaign issue into a race between two of the oldest candidates ever to seek the White House.

Clinton supporters had long dismissed concerns about her health as baseless, insisting that she only suffered from allergies. But Sunday’s incident — along with a video appearing to show Clinton having difficulty standing on her own — will only amplify such questions just as the race enters its final weeks.

The incident also could increase pressure on Clinton, 68, and Republican nominee Donald Trump, 70, to release more information about their health. Clinton has disclosed less than some previous candidates. Donald Trump has released almost nothing.

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Hillary Clinton boards her plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport while campaigning in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 8.

(Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton holds a lopsided lead over Donald Trump in decidedly Democratic California, but weaknesses here with younger voters suggest problems that could thwart her campaign in more contested states, a new poll has found.

Trump once vowed to win California and other heavily Democratic states, but he hasn’t said that recently, and the poll shows why: Clinton led Trump by 25 points, 58% to 33%, when the two candidates were matched head to head in the latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll of registered voters.

When the choices were expanded to include Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Clinton lost more support than Trump, and the gap between the two narrowed to 20 points. Johnson picked up 11% and Stein 6%.

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