Medical experts raise red flags, question her claimed recovery from brain trauma.
January 8, 2016
A traumatic brain injury Hillary Clinton suffered that she apparently never recovered from could render her unfit for the intense daily rigors of the presidency, a new report suggests.
After the former secretary of state returned late to the stage following a commercial break in a Democratic presidential candidates' debate in New Hampshire last month, many observers picked up on an excuse that there was a long lineup for the bathroom that forced Clinton to return to the stage when the debate had resumed.
But Breitbart News suggests that all-too-convenient explanation may have been a cover story that deflects from what really happened. A law enforcement source told Breitbart that "health issues stemming from a previous brain injury" kept Hillary from the stage and also hindered her ability to walk after the debate. Clinton's campaign denied their candidate was in poor health and said she quickly recovered from a concussion she suffered but her husband, former President Bill Clinton, is on record as saying that Hillary's injury "required six months of very serious work to get over."
"These long-lasting symptoms stemming from a concussion and blood clot, according to a neurologist, suggest Clinton is suffering from post-concussion syndrome, which can severely impact her cognitive abilities," the Breitbart report states.
"Strong source just told me something I suspected. Hillary's debate 'bathroom break' wasn't that, but flare up of problems from brain injury," former New York cop John Cardillo who provided VIP security details tweeted.
"I got this from both a [federal agent] ... and I also got it from a New York [NYPD] guy who worked security at a Hillary event in New York City," Cardillo said, adding:
"These are two people that aren't just personal friends. I worked with one and then post law-enforcement worked with another on some related things. So, these aren't anonymous people. These are good friends. Both of them told me the same thing, that after her speeches, whether she did a talk or a policy speech, she had to sit behind - she would come off the podium backstage - and have to sit and rest before making it back to the car because she was so fatigued, dizzy and disoriented."
Cardillo said his two sources, who don't know each other and don't reside in the same state, have stories that "were almost identical." One of the sources indicated Clinton was "very pale, kind of disoriented. He said she looked like she was about to faint. She was very pale, almost sweaty."
GOP strategist Roger Stone, who used to work for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, said he too has received inside information about Mrs. Clinton's failing health.
"A number of New York Democrats, very prominent, well-known, wealthy New York Democrats, told me last year that Hillary had very significant health issues and that they were surprised that she was running in view of her health problems and her lack of stamina," Stone said. "So far, she's run a very controlled campaign,"
"I don't think she has the physical stamina to be president," he stated. "I have no doubt that Sen. Marco Rubio won't call her on it, but [Donald] Trump certainly would."
"We also know that in the emails, of course, Huma Abedin ... says that she is easily confused," Stone added, referencing comments top Clinton aide Huma Abedin made about her boss in emails while working at the Department of State.
Trump has publicly questioned whether Clinton has the "stamina" be be president. "She goes out and she sees you guys for about 10 minutes, she sees you for a little while, it's all rehearsed and staged," Trump told Fox News recently.
"They'll pick a couple of people out of the audience that are like, you know, 100 percent. She'll sit around a little plastic table, they'll talk to the people for a while. It's ridiculous," Trump said. "And then she goes away for five or six days and you don't see her. She goes to sleep."
According to Unlikeable: The Problem with Hillary, a book by Edward Klein, Clinton has suffered a series of strokes and is "frequently plagued" by "blinding headaches." In 2012 Clinton experienced a life-threatening concussion-related blood clot of her brain that made her "constantly worried" she would develop a new clot. On the campaign trail she has "felt faint and nearly swooned," but "[t]hose incidents were kept secret."
During the debate last month, Clinton was surprisingly incoherent at times.
Clinton appeared to compare Second Amendment supporters to Islamic terrorists. After discussing building a coalition to fight terrorists abroad, Hillary clumsily segued into disjointed commentary in which she seemed to argue that gun owners are a greater threat to the republic than jihadists:
"Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is, is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in the Muslim American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with."
Then there was a bizarre gaffe Hillary made in November.
In a speech to the NAACP about forbidding prospective employers from asking job applicants about their criminal history, Mrs. Clinton, who is now under FBI investigation, offered what appeared to be a weird Freudian slip:
"Earlier today, I announced that as president I will take steps to ban the box so former presidents won't have to declare their criminal history at the very start of the hiring process. That way they'll have a chance to been seen as more than someone who has done time."
After examining a 2012 ABC News report about Clinton's concussion and blood clot, Board-certified neurologist Dr. Daniel Kassicieh of Sarasota, Fla., said Clinton's head injury appears to be adversely and significantly impacting her everyday performance.
"They were trying to poo-poo this off as a minor concussion, but I would just say that reading it and trying to take all the politics out of it, and just read it purely from a medical standpoint," said Kassicieh, whom Breitbart discloses is a registered Republican.
"Considering the point of what happened with Hillary over this time period... the timeline... and then what has happened here more recently... the break at the debate, I saw that and even the commentators that were sitting there made a comment that, 'Gee, that seems awful long for a break.' Just looking at it from a neurological standpoint, the risk factors for developing post-concussion syndrome, one of them is age, and she was 65 when this happened... just from a physiologic standpoint that's an older individual. Being female is a risk factor for post-concussion syndrome as well."
"For someone who has treated many post-concussion syndrome patients and that's what I really believe she's suffering from based on reading these reports and reading what's happened," Kassicieh said. "I think she has latent post-concussion syndrome, and I can understand that as a politician they would want to be covering that up."
Dr. Jane Orient, executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, said the ABC News report raised concerns.
"Factors predisposing to clots include air travel, dehydration, hormones, immobilization as during surgery, blood abnormalities, cancer," she said. "Concussions can cause long-term damage including cognitive problems, even when standard studies including CT or MRI look normal."
"Not saying Mrs. Clinton has any of the above - just speaking generally and hypothetically," she added.
In older adults post-concussion syndrome, Kassicieh said, "can be characterized by symptoms of persistent dizziness, complaints of memory difficulties, forgetfulness, loss of ability to focus on complex tasks or concepts and indecisiveness ... "Latent depression and overt anxiety are also common in this condition."
The ABC News report established that Hillary wasn't "fully functional" as secretary of state, he said.
"As a neurologist, I would interpret these and more recent events involving Hillary as possibly showing signs of post-concussion syndrome. This condition could have serious impact on the cognitive and intellectual functioning of an individual, particularly a high level job as [President of the United States]."
Nationally syndicated talk show host and medical doctor Dr. Drew Pinsky told Breitbart that it's serious when a head injury patient is still exhibiting symptoms a year or more later.
"In my clinical experience, it's very common for them to have six months and even up to a year of exercise intolerance, and sort of [needing] frequent rest, and can easily get overwhelmed," he said of head injury victims. "But after a year, that's something else."
Pinsky said Clinton's symptoms "are very serious."
Breitbart sent eight specific questions about Hillary's medical condition to her campaign and got a cookie-cutter response. "These questions are all addressed in her health statement," said a spokesperson in a reference to a July letter from Clinton's physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack-- chair of internal medicine at the Mount Kisco Medical Group in New York.
Bardack called Clinton a "healthy 67-year-old female whose current medical conditions include hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies," adding "[h]er past medical history is notable for a deep vein thrombosis in 1998 and in 2009, an elbow fracture in 2009 and a concussion in 2012."
"In December of 2012, Mrs. Clinton suffered a stomach virus after traveling, became dehydrated, fainted and sustained a concussion," Bardack wrote, indicating that her patient was determined "to have a transverse sinus venous thrombosis" for which she began anti-coagulation therapy to dissolve the clot.
The concussion resolved itself, as did the thrombosis, the doctor wrote.
But those who observe Hillary Clinton in action don't seem convinced.
