“I Was There”: AP Reporter Debunks Conspiracy Theory That Video Shows Clinton Suffering From Seizures

Right-Wing Media Has Pushed Clinton Health Conspiracies In Attempt To Distract From Trump Controversies

Written by Thomas Bishop

Published

Associated Press reporter Lisa Lerer debunked right-wing conspiracy theories that a video showing Hillary Clinton laughing at press questions shows her suffering from a seizure.

Right-wing media personalities including Sean Hannity, Alex Jones, and Matt Drudge, have attempted to change the subject from Donald Trump’s campaign troubles by drumming up a conspiracy that Hillary Clinton is in poor health. Fox host Hannity has led the crusade attacking Clinton, bringing on guests to diagnose Clinton of various diseases using deceptively edited snippets of video and photos of Clinton.



Hannity repeatedly used video taken several months ago of Clinton’s campaign visit to a bakery where he speculated that her exaggerated motion was possibly a seizure.

Lerer explained that what happened during Clinton’s campaign visit to Washington D. C. on June 10 while covering the campaign was less controversial (emphasis added):

I've never been part of a conspiracy theory. Now, video of my surprised facial expression has become Exhibit A in the latest unfounded speculation about Hillary Clinton.

It starts with Clinton's visit to a muffin shop in Washington on June 10, five days before the District of Columbia's Democratic primary. The then-presumptive Democratic nominee popped in for a photo op with Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials supporting her campaign.

As an Associated Press reporter who's spent more than a year covering her candidacy, I was there for her appearance. After she ordered herself a “cold chai,” my colleagues and I shouted some questions, mostly about Clinton's recent meeting with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Perhaps eager to avoid answering or maybe just taken aback by our volume, Clinton responded with an exaggerated motion, shaking her head vigorously for a few seconds. Video of the moment shows me holding out my recorder in front of her, laughing and stepping back in surprise. After the exchange, she took a few more photos, exited the shop and greeted supporters waiting outside.

CNN’s senior media correspondent Brian Stelter explained the Clinton health conspiracy theories began from “pro-Trump Twitter accounts, which then went to a fringe right-wing blog, which then went to the Drudge Report” and on to other media outlets.