Earlier this morning, at a September 11 memorial service, Hillary Clinton became overheated, according to a statement from her campaign. But as she stumbled in an effort to get into the waiting van, a bystander took a video that will almost certainly fuel the rabid conspiracy theorists for months to come.
BuzzFeed spoke to Zdenek Gazda, who took the video above:
“I take two pictures before she passed me,” said Gazda, who said he moved to the US 24 years ago from what was then Czechoslovakia and is a Clinton supporter. “She looked like everything was fine and everything was good.”
“I just saw the secretary waiting for the van and the van came and she can’t walk inside and she gets helped. She lost her shoe and everything,” he said.
Apparently, failed YouTube personality Martin Shkreli was also at the event, and according to CNN producer Dan Merica, Shkreli shouted, “Why are you so sick?” as Hillary walked towards the car.
Clinton went to her daughter’s apartment to recuperate, and she left 90 minutes later in markedly higher spirits, both waving to the press and stopping for photo op with a little girl.
Of course, this all comes just a week after Hillary Clinton’s fairly lengthy coughing attack, which she played off as “an allergic reaction” to Donald Trump. And while there’s nothing necessarily tying these two events together, and neither are necessarily evidence of any major or life-threatening illness, that hasn’t stopped the many armchair doctors of Twitter from weighing in.
Despite claims that it wasn’t that hot this morning, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) told BuzzFeed News that “anyone who says they wasn’t hot doesn’t know what they are talking about. Chuck Schumer’s shirt was blue at the beginning and it was dark blue by the time we left. That’s how much he was sweating. We were all sweating and praying for a breeze.”
It’s not just Clinton who’s had trouble handling the heat this week, either:
What’s more, judging from this photo of Clinton leaving Chelsea’s apartment post-recovery, that is a lot of layers.
According to Clinton press secretary Nick Merrill:
Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen. During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment, and is feeling much better.
While they have yet to actually address the ongoing rumors of Clinton’s health, the campaign is likely going to be forced to do so soon, since it’s no longer simply deranged conspiracy theorists yelling about a few stray pillows.
We’ve reached out to Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill for comment, and will update if and when he responds.
Update (5:52 p.m. ET): Clinton’s doctor said in a statement that Clinton had been dealing with pneumonia since Friday.