US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has scrapped campaign plans to visit California after being diagnosed with what her doctor said was “pneumonia.”
“Secretary Clinton will not be traveling to California tomorrow or Tuesday,” the former secretary of state’s campaign said on Sunday night.
The announcement came hours after the 68-year-old former first lady was forced to abruptly leave a 9/11 memorial in New York due to an apparent medical episode.
A video of the incident emerged shortly after, showing a seemingly fainting Clinton stumbling on the sidewalk while her security detail took her into a van and drove her to her daughter's house.
The candidate’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, released a statement via the campaign and said she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
“I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely,” Bardack said.
Clinton's campaign, however, blamed the incident on her simply feeling “overheated.”
“During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment, and is feeling much better,” campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement.
The conflicting reports brought a storm of attacks on the campaign from Republicans and Democrats alike, who demanded more clarity on Clinton’s health status.
It took the campaign around six hours to finally state that Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia and put on antibiotics a day earlier.
The confusion continued into midnight, when fundraisers who were planning to attend Clinton's San Francisco event received an email that said the event was not canceled and she would appear via video conference.
The incident further fueled speculations about Clinton’s well-being, an issue that has been haunting her ever since she suffered a blood clot in her brain in 2012.
President Barack Obama’s former doctor Dr. David Scheiner told CNN in late August that the former secretary of state needed to take a thorough neurological test.
Clinton’s Republican rival, Donald Trump, has called on her to release her medical records. This is while the 70-year-old candidate himself has refused to heed similar requests.