Over the last week, as Donald Trump faced disappointing poll numbers and continued to spawn a series of never-ending controversies on the campaign trail, Fox News’ Sean Hannity -- who has perhaps been Trump’s biggest cheerleader in the media -- has devoted large chunks of his Fox News program to engaging in baseless conspiracies that Hillary Clinton is in ill health.
Hannity, Drudge and conspiracy media like Alex Jones’ Infowars are part of a steady, months-long drumbeat consistently pushing baseless claims that Clinton has serious health problems.
As CNN’s Brian Stelter pointed out, Hannity’s crusade is an example of “how this ecosystem exists, where something starts, in this case on pro-trump Twitter accounts, and it makes its way all the way up to some of the top shows on cable television, even though it's really rooted in a conspiracy theory.”
Monday: “Some Said It's Like A Mini-Seizure”
On Monday, Hannity hosted neurologist Dr. David Samadi and Dr. Marc Seigel to assess whether Clinton “could be experiencing a serious undisclosed medical condition.” During the segment, Hannity referenced a misleading Drudge-promoted photo of Clinton slipping on icy stairs to kick off a segment in which he questioned his guests on whether Clinton had suffered “a mini-seizure” or had a “mini-stroke.”
The transcript of the exchange, via Nexis:
HANNITY: And welcome back to HANNITY. So an image of Hillary Clinton recently posted to the Web site “The American Mirror” is sparking new controversy for the Clinton campaign. The picture, which shows Hillary Clinton apparently needing assistance to climb a flight of stairs at a campaign stop back in February, was picked up by “The Drudge Report,” which posted this headline over the weekend detailing Hillary Clinton's history with falls and speculating that the former secretary of state could be experiencing a serious undisclosed medical condition.
Earlier today we reached out to the Clinton campaign for a statement, and a spokesman told us that “The Drudge Report” is shameful, and anyone who buys into that vitriol, including yours truly, is shameful as well. So shameful we are.
Anyway, what was noticeably missing from the statement is any reference or rebuttal to the health issues that were alleged by Drudge and others.
Joining us now with analysis, from the FOX News medical A-Team we have FOX News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr. David Samadi is with us. It's in “The Daily Mail,” are Hillary Clinton's health problems more severe than thought? A new book is coming out that claims that. The Gateway Pundit had today, "Hillary's handler carrying a diazepam pen for patients who experience recurrent seizures. When you look at her history, Dr. Siegel, of falling, concussions, the blood clots, et cetera, and then this other video that has emerged, what are your thoughts?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the public has the right to know. Number one, we're talking in 2008, Sean, I looked over 1,000 pages of John McCain's records because of a melanoma he had 10 years before. What about Hillary? In 2009, a severe fall, she breaks an elbow. In 2011 she boards a plane, falls. In 2012 she has a severe concussion which Bill Clinton says it took her six months to recover from.
Then she ends up with a blood clot on the brain. She's on lifetime blood thinners. Just to point alone, if she's prone to falling, and you see from our picture up there that it looks like she can barely get upstairs without two people carrying her. If she falls and hits her head she'll get a blood clot in her brain.
HANNITY: Just out of fairness, I don't want to show the video. But I've asked both of you to look at the video where she seems like, some said it's like a mini-seizure. What does it look like to you.
SIEGEL: I'm also concerned about this concussion she had in 2012. It could be post-concussion syndrome. Your balance is off. You're dizzy all the time. Your memory is off. You're not thinking clearly. Maybe that is what she meant this week when talked about that click she had with Chris Wallace. Maybe she just can't think.
HANNITY: She says she short circuited. Also, it's not just that. She doesn't give a lot of press conferences. She doesn't want to seem to put herself in high pressure situations.
SIEGEL: I want to know what her neurologist says. I've reached out to her neurologist at Columbia after she had that fall. No comment. I want to know what her neurological records show.
HANNITY: You think as you have done with John McCain and other presidential candidates, obviously John McCain is older, do you think it's fair game, especially if people see that something seems a little off?
SIEGEL: Not just fair game. Just the point alone that she's on blood thinners and seems to be prone to fall, if she falls when she's in the White House --
HANNITY: Is there a possibility she had a mini-stroke, a TIA? What do you think?
DR. DAVID SAMADI, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The picture that you showed as she's going up the stairs speaks a million words. Is he really fatigued? Is she dehydrated? One of the main reasons why she fell in 2012 and had the concussion was severe dehydration. They're holding her and going up the stairs so she may be really dehydrated, she may have arthritis, she may have back pain. She may have fallen again. We don't know. So there are a lot more questions that are unanswered. What we know today is that she's on thyroid medication. She suffers from hypothyroid or low thyroid that can cause some fatigue and gaining weight and all of that.
Tuesday: “What About Some Of The Weird Pauses She Has”
On Tuesday, Hannity had neurologist Dr. Daniel Kassicieh and Dr. Marc Seigel on and again brought up the photos from the Drudge Report. He asked, “Is it possible she had a stroke, or do you really believe it was a head injury, traumatic brain injury?”
He also pondered, “What about some of the weird pauses she has, the coughing fits she has? There are moments when I'm literally watching her and I'm thinking, OK, the facial expressions are odd. They seem off.”
The transcript of the exchange, via Nexis:
HANNITY: So last time on this program we spoke about an image that was being circulated online of Hillary Clinton. The picture shows the Democratic nominee being helped a flight of stairs by her staffers. This was back in February. “The Drudge Report” picked it up and speculated about her health.
So should Hillary have to reveal her medical condition as well as give us maybe those Wall Street speeches, maybe those big bank speeches? And joining us now with reaction is board-certified neurologist and headache specialist Dr. Daniel Kassicieh and from the FOX News Medical A-Team is Dr. Mark Seigel. Dr. Siegel, good to see you again.
Daniel, let me start with you. Doctor, let me ask you, what do you see in her condition and some of these images where she keeps getting flustered or the coughing fits or you hear about the blood clots. What is your interpretation?
DR. DANIEL KASSICIEH, BOARD CERTIFIED NEUROLOGIST: My concern is going back to her concussion when she fell back in December of 2012 and she had a reported blood clot. The blood clot cleared up quickly with the blood thinners, but Bill Clinton actually reported that it took six months of hard work for Hillary to recover from her head injury.
HANNITY: Is it possible she had a stroke, or do you really believe it was a head injury, traumatic brain injury?
KASSICIEH: I believe that she had a concussion with a possible brain injury. Of course, I haven't seen medical records, but the blood clot once it cleared up was no longer an issue. It was the latent effects of the concussion that I would be concerned about.
HANNITY: By the way, I'm glad you're a headache expert because any time she or any liberal speaks, I get a headache. Dr. Siegel?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Sean, this is a year when we're looking into the long term effects of concussion and we're finding that we're underestimating this, that someone who has a severe blow to the head can have affects later on that even an MRI doesn't show. So at the very least I want to see her medical records.
HANNITY: What about some of the weird pauses she has, the coughing fits she has? There are moments when I'm literally watching her and I'm thinking, OK, the facial expressions are odd. They seem off.
SIEGEL: I don't know this because I'm only looking at a video. But I saw the same video you saw and I'm wondering about a word called “aphasia” where you're searching for words, you suddenly lose those words, and that can be the sign, again, of some kind of traumatic brain injury or the after effects of a concussion.
I'm not satisfied to just get a letter from Dr. Bardack who is her primary and say she's fit to be president. That is like getting a letter from an accountant, the taxes are OK. I want to see what a neurologist wrote about her.
Hannity similarly promoted the conspiracy theory that Clinton had a stroke on his syndicated radio show on Tuesday, claiming, “one doctor friend of mine was really convinced she had a stroke.”
Wednesday: “It Almost Seems Seizure-Esque To Me”
On Wednesday, Hannity hosted Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr. Fiona Gupta, claiming that “questions continue to swirl about Hillary Clinton's health and if she is fit to serve as president of the United States.”
The transcript of the exchange, via Nexis:
HANNITY: Look at this video right here. Watch her reaction, because I'm not -- it almost seems seizure-esque to me.
GUPTA: There are different types of seizures, local seizures that sometimes can cause just one body part, but it would be very rare. I mean, typically seizures will generalize, so I can't say that's a seizure.
HANNITY: Aren't there many seizures like that, Dr. Siegel?
DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I'm not a neurologist, and I don't think that necessarily looks like a seizure, but I will say this --
HANNITY: Let's re-rack this. What do you think this is?
SIEGEL: I'll tell you what I think it is. I think that we've seen enough there, especially in someone who has a long medical history and who's approaching 70 years old for me to be able to say here that both of our candidates need to release their medical information. Sean, the whole idea --
HANNITY: It looks like violent, out of control movements on her part.
SIEGEL: And it could be, and I say could be, related to previous head trauma she's had. It's possible. That's why I need to see the records. That's why a neurologist needs to come forward and give a press conference and say this is what is going on with her. She may very well be completely fit, but we want to know.
Thursday: “You've Got This Sort Of Twitching Thing That She Does”
On Thursday, Hannity hosted Drs. Marc Siegel and David Samadi, along with former Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson to discuss “speculation” about Clinton’s health in a segment he introduced by asking, “Why won't the mainstream media talk about this story?”
Hannity asked the panel to comment on video supposedly showing Clinton engaging in “violent, violent, repetitive jerking of the head,” and wondered about “this sort of twitching thing that she does.”
The transcript of the exchange, via Nexis:
HANNITY: Dr. Carson, I'll show you the different examples. She's falling. You've got this sort of twitching thing that she does in front of reporters that was really bad. There's been a number of incidents and reports that she fell. And then she had this really long incident where she was out of commission for quite a while, recovering, her husband said. She's on anti- coagulants.
Number one, do we have a right to know? And number two, what do you make of this twitching thing that she keeps doing? I'll run it again.
HANNITY: Why are you laughing? You're the brain surgeon here. I'm just a humble little host.
(LAUGHTER)
CARSON: Oh, it just looks funny. You know, certainly as a person gets older, you know, the number of medical conditions that we have to watch for increases, which is one of the reasons that we strongly suggest, as you get older, that you have at least an annual examination. If you're going into a very important position like this, it's critical.