Hillary Clinton on Monday interrupted her stump speech involuntarily in a coughing spell — and wryly blamed the incident on GOP rival Donald Trump.
“Every time I think about Trump, I think I’m allergic,” said the Democratic nominee in the midst of her coughing outbreak during a Cleveland rally, Ohio. Behind Clinton, running mate Tim Kaine clapped while the audience laughed in response.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, seized on the episode to tweak Clinton over her distance from the media — including not holding a full-blown press conference since last December.
“Must be allergic to media. Finally spent a minute w/ them,” Conway wrote on Twitter.
Earlier Monday, Clinton took steps to seemingly answer more press questions, by including her traveling press corps on the same plane on which she flies.
“I will come back and talk to you more formally but I wanted to welcome you onto the plane,” Clinton said at the outset of a Labor Day campaign swing.
Clinton has dealt with coughing fits before, but Monday’s among the most disruptive. She previously coughed excessively during a February 17 speech about race, in Harlem, New York, and in an earlier Iowa address, on January 25, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines.