On May 4, 2009, Hillary Clinton wrote to her top aide Huma Abedin, “I still don’t feel great,” and Clinton requested an Air Force plane instead of taking a shuttle from Westchester, New York, apparently to get to Washington, D.C., according to an email released Monday by Judicial Watch.
The email was part of 725 pages of new State Department documents released in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information (FOI) lawsuit. The latest batch included 20 Hillary Clinton email exchanges not previously turned over to the State Department, the conservative legal action group says.
In the newly released email, Clinton wrote to Abedin on May 4, 2009:
Do you think we could get a plane for Westchester flight back tonight? It’s going to rain all day and I still don’t feel great so the idea of playing a guessing game w the shuttle is pretty burdensome to me. What do you think? Could be anytime that works for the Air Force.
The email exchange shows that Abedin helped to arrange a C21 cargo and passenger airlift plane to pick Clinton up in White Plains, New York.
It was no secret that Clinton was not feeling well that day. The topic was brought up during a State Department briefing with Robert Wood, an acting department spokesman. Wood explained that Clinton was “just recovering” from “mild allergies.”
Here is a transcript of that exchange from the State Department website:
QUESTION: My understanding is the Secretary is not in today, taking a sick day. Can you bring us up to date on how she’s feeling, whether she expects to be back tomorrow?
MR. WOOD: She’ll be back tomorrow. The Secretary, as I mentioned I think on Friday, suffers from mild allergies. Her schedule for today was going to be a light one. Her morning appointments are able to – we were able to reschedule them for tomorrow. She had a light – I don’t think any appointments in the afternoon. So she’s just recovering from the allergies, and she’ll be back tomorrow.
QUESTION: Does that mean she’s still in New York now, today?
MR. WOOD: I believe she’s in New York, yes
Three days earlier, on May 1, 2009, a reporter noted Clinton looked “a little ill,” and asked about it during a briefing with Wood.
Here is that exchange, also from the State Department’s website:
QUESTION: This is slightly odd, but the Secretary, in her two appearances this morning, appeared to be a little ill. Is she suffering from a cold or something? And I ask only because of the whole swine flu thing and the fact that she was in Mexico in March and the fact that a member of the – one member of the President’s delegation did come down with it.
MR. WOOD: Matt, you’ll be happy to know it’s just mild allergies. She suffers from mild allergies. That’s all it is.
QUESTION: All right. Thank you.
MR. WOOD: You’re welcome, sir.
About one month later, on June 19, 2009, Clinton was said to be resting in her Washington home after surgery on a broken right elbow from a reported slip-and-fall incident at the State Department garage on her way to a meeting at the White House.
A letter released by her physician in July 2015 dubbed Clinton in “excellent physical condition,” but noted she was diagnosed at the time with hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies and was taking the medications Armour Thyoid and Coumadin daily. The letter, from Clinton’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, further stated that in 2009 she suffered from deep vein thrombosis and the elbow fracture that year.
Bardack provided some information about a 2012 incident in which Clinton was said to have suffered from a blood clot and concussion.
Time magazine reported at the time:
Bardack’s letter provides the most detailed accounting of the 2012 episode, which came as Clinton was set to testify before Congress on the 2012 Benghazi attacks shortly before leaving office.
According to Bardack, Clinton fainted after becoming dehydrated from a stomach virus and suffered a concussion during the fall. During subsequent evaluations, Bardack said, Clinton was diagnosed with a “transverse sinus venous thrombosis,” a type of blood clot in the brain, and was given anticoagulants to dissolve the clot. After the concussion, Clinton experienced double-vision and wore glasses with a Fresnel Prism.
“Her concussion symptoms, including the double vision, resolved within two months and she discontinued the use of the prism,” Bardack wrote. “She had follow-up testing in 2013, which revealed complete resolution of the effects of the concussion as well as total dissolution of the thrombosis. Mrs. Clinton also tested negative for all clotting disorders.”
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
With research by Joshua Klein.