Despite the rumors, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview with ABC News that she experiences “no lingering effects” from the concussion she suffered in 2012.
Clinton added that if she runs for president, she will release her medical records, as “other candidates have done.”
In recent months, and ahead of her much-anticipated but as-yet-unannounced 2016 presidential bid, Clinton has come under fire for both her health and her age. Now, it seems, she’s on a mission to put out those fires, debunking false allegations while promoting her upcoming memoir, scheduled for release on June 10.
In a segment of the interview with Sawyer released on ABC News’s website ahead of its June 9 air date, Sawyer begins by inquiring about President Obama’s decision to trade American POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban militants, asking Clinton, “Did he make a deal with the devil?”
“I think this was a very hard choice,” Clinton replied in a nod to her upcoming memoir’s title, “Hard Choices,” adding, “Of course there are competing interests and values,” one of which says “we bring everybody home off the battlefield as best we can.”
Sawyer asked Clinton about her health, to which Clinton replied, “It’s very good, thank you.” Clinton elaborated on the severity of her 2012 concussion and blood clot, which she described as “the scary part.” “Because of the force of the fall, I had double-vision for a short period of time and I had some dizziness,” Clinton explained. However, she had no difficulty talking and did not experience headaches, Clinton told Sawyer. Clinton also recounted a run-in with Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan at Obama’s 2013 inauguration, at which Clinton recalled Ryan relating to her injury, saying he’d incurred several sports-related concussions. Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running-mate in 2012, is considered a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016. The latest conspiracy surrounding Clinton’s health centered around a recent photograph that graced the cover of People magazine, in which the former first lady rested her hands on a metal object. The conservative Drudge Report floated the theory that Clinton was supporting herself with the aid of a walker. The meme exploded on social media, prompting the magazine to release another photograph that proved Clinton was, in fact, posing next to a lawn chair.
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