Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America(WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.) — After three days resting at home, Hillary Clinton is set to return to the campaign trail for her first public appearance since her pneumonia diagnosis.
On Thursday, the Democratic presidential nominee — who released additional medical information from her doctor Wednesday saying a recent physical “was normal and she is in excellent mental condition” — will hold a campaign event in Greensboro, N.C. and then attend the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute dinner in Washington, D.C.
Clinton’s return to the trail is sure to come with additional scrutiny and questions regarding her overall health.
Donald Trump, who has thus far remained quiet about his opponent’s recent diagnosis, has consistently questioned Clinton’s health and “stamina” throughout the campaign. And his campaign is unlikely to let down.
“Why in the world did Hillary Clinton lie to everyone and conceal such an important fact for two days saying she was overheated and dehydrated and then of course hours and hours later after, unfortunately, her health became the biggest trending story of the day, not the 9/11 fallen, why wait all those hours?” Trump’s campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said during an interview on MSNBC this week.
“If this is about transparency and medical records and health conditions, then why was she so furtive in the business of concealing here?” she added later.
In recent days, Trump has stayed mum about Clinton’s health, saying that he hopes she recovers. But last night at a rally in Ohio, he said she was “lying in bed” and questioned her stamina: “I don’t know folks, you think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this?”
On Sunday, Clinton, 68, left early from the 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York City where she was seen struggling to walk as she was assisted by aides in to her van.
Clinton’s campaign first released a statement saying the former secretary of state “felt overheated” at the outdoor event. But after video of the incident surfaced online, the campaign released another statement from her longtime doctor revealing Clinton, who had been battling a cough the week prior, had been diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
A statement from her doctor released Wednesday said a CT-scan revealed Clinton had a noncontagious bacterial pneumonia, and that she was instructed to take Levaquin for the next 10 days.
Following further advice from her doctor to rest and modify her schedule, Clinton cancelled her plans to travel to the West Coast early this week, which included an appearance on “The Ellen Show” and a “Stronger Together” speech on the economy.
Clinton also phoned in to a fundraiser she had been scheduled to attend in San Francisco on Monday. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, filled in for her at her Hollywood fundraisers on Tuesday and a campaign event in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Clinton, according to spokesman Nick Merrill, spent all three days off the campaign trail at her home in Chappaqua, N.Y, where a steady stream of flowers were seen delivered to the house.
During this downtime, Clinton tweeted, emailed and texted her supporters to update that she was “feeling fine and getting better.” She also caught up on reading briefings, made calls and watched President Obama’s Tuesday campaign event on TV, Merrill said.
In an attempt reassure voters and to downplay questions over her health and transparency, Clinton’s campaign insisted recently that the presidential nominee has “no other undisclosed condition.” They also released an additional two-page statement from Clinton’s longtime doctor on Wednesday stating that, “she continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as president of the United States.”
Clinton herself has played down her illness.
Asked during a phone interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper this week why she did not reveal her pneumonia diagnosis before Sunday, Clinton explained that she just “didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.”
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