Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this week called for excluding moderators from the upcoming debates between himself and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, citing concerns that he will be treated unfairly. Mr Obama recently returned from 10 days overseas in Asia and will attend a United Nations meeting next week, leaving him just six weeks of full-throttle campaigning for Mrs Clinton.
Advertisement
Pence rejected accusations that Trump’s campaign was seeking the support of white supremacists, including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who has endorsed Trump.
Obama’s appearance comes as 68-year-old Clinton was sidelined from the campaign trail by a bout of pneumonia that has raised broader questions about her health. Dr. Harold Bornstein wrote, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.
Her campaign’s lack of disclosure and handling of her health woes also have been poked and examined by editorial boards and panels of pundits. After roughly 90 minutes of silence from her campaign, aides said Clinton left because she was overheated. The doctor later said that Mrs Clinton was “rehydrated and recovering nicely”. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Clinton won’t be back out until Thursday.
“I probably would have been better off if I’d just pulled down my schedule on Friday, but like a lot of people, I just thought I could keep going forward and power through it and obviously that didn’t work out so well”.
“Republicans don’t like to hear good news right now but it’s important to understand this is a big deal”, Mr Obama said of the new report, later joking: “Thanks, Obama”. “So I think I should make those roles as consistent as possible by saying to the president and seniors advisors”, he said.
Trump has attempted to portray Clinton as lacking sufficient stamina to serve as president, despite her reputation as one of the most travelled secretaries of state and presidential candidates in U.S. history.
“And Donald Trump says stuff every day that used to be considered as disqualifying for being president”, Obama continued. “So you folks have magnified the problems she has”.
Clinton said her campaign will release more information about her health, and took the opportunity to goad Trump into releasing his tax returns and medical records that were not hastily scribbled in a limo.
Advertisement
Speculation about Clinton’s health dates back to 2012, toward the end of her tenure as secretary of state.
