Rudy Giuliani is defending his questions about Hillary Clinton’s health — despite the fact there has been no evidence to contradict her doctor’s report that she’s fit for office — with the former New York mayor saying in an op-ed that he’s “performing a public service.”
“I hope Secretary Clinton is perfectly healthy, and I feel that I have performed a public service if I can motivate the press to fulfill its responsibility to get the public the information it deserves — and the same standard should be applied to all candidates,” Giuliani wrote in a USA Today op-ed published Monday.
There is no credible evidence to support the claims of doubts about Clinton’s health, including on the online material that Giuliani cited. Clinton’s physician — the only person to speak on the record who has actually examined her — has repeatedly affirmed the former secretary of state’s health and fitness for the highest office in the land.
Giuliani has been one of the most vocal supporters of Donald Trump to push the baseless suggestion that Clinton has serious health problems which could prevent her from serving as president. And the line of attack — fanned by some Trump surrogates and right-wing media, prompting mainstream condemnation — has escalated to shouting over the summer, part of a growing attempt to fundamentally undermine Clinton’s candidacy.
CNN has reached out to the Clinton campaign for comment on Giuliani’s op-ed and have not yet received a response.
Pushing back on critics, Giuliani wrote that “the reason I raised the issue of inadequate health disclosures is because Secretary Clinton has been hiding from press scrutiny, and Americans are wondering why.”
He continued, “Clinton has not held a news conference in 270 days, and too many in the news media have allowed her to get away with it.”
Giuliani also argued that “some in the news media have already begun to raise these same questions,” pointing to Fox News’ Sean Hannity and the news aggregator the Drudge Report — two leaders in the conservative news world that have loudly promoted the Clinton health conspiracy theory.
And Giuliani addressed criticism of an interview he conducted on Fox News, during which he told viewers to “go online and put down ‘Hillary Clinton illness.'”
“I did not come to a conclusion on this matter; I simply asked people to draw their own conclusions,” Giuliani wrote.
During an appearance last week on “The Jimmy Kimmel show,” Clinton called the GOP claims about her health a “wacky strategy” — part of an increased effort by her camp to repudiate the rumor campaign.
“I don’t know why they are saying this,” she said. “I think on the one hand, it is part of the wacky strategy, just say all these crazy things and maybe you can get some people to believe you.”