Hillary Clinton used humor Friday to address her recent pneumonia diagnosis, telling an audience of black women in Washington that the upside was that it “finally got some Republicans interested in women’s health.”
“I am also thrilled to be back on the campaign trial. As the world knows, I was a little under the weather recently,” Clinton said. “The good news is my pneumonia finally got some Republicans interested in women’s health.”
Democrats have long hit Republicans for, in their view, ignoring women’s health needs by pushing to defund Planned Parenthood and other policy positions.
Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, but opted to ignore her doctor and continued to campaign over the weekend. On Sunday, at a 9/11 memorial ceremony, the former New York senator seemingly collapsed after leaving the event early. She had to cancel three days of campaigning because of the diagnosis.
“Looking back I know I should have followed my doctors orders to test, but my instinct was to push through it,” Clinton said at the Black Women’s Agenda forum. “That is what women do every day.”
Last month, as Trump and his supporters pushed conspiracy theories about Clinton’s health, the Democratic nominee went on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show and opened a jar of pickles to show her strength.
“Back in October, the National Enquirer said I would be dead in six months. So with every breath I take I feel like I have a new lease on life,” Clinton joked.
‘No erasing’ Trump birther history
Clinton weighed in on Republican nominee Donald Trump trying to walk back questions he raised about President Barack Obama’s country of birth and American citizenship.
Trump’s campaign issued a statement on Thursday night that said the Republican nominee, who rose to political prominence by questioning the president’s birthplace, now believes Obama was born in the United States. Trump has not publicly expressed that sentiment himself.
Clinton said Friday that there is “there is no erasing” Donald Trump’s birther history, arguing that Trump’s campaign was “founded on this outrageous lie.”
“For five years he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president,” Clinton said. “Barack Obama was born in America plain and simple and Donald Trump owes him and the American people an apology.”
Clinton added, “My friends, there is no new Donald Trump. There never will be.”
Friday’s event was a friendly one for Clinton. African-American women have been a supportive voting bloc for Clinton for decades and the former secretary of state said that she “would not be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States were it not for black women.”
Clinton, nodding to a popular hashtag on social media and phrase used to celebrate black women’s resilience, added, “You are proof that yes indeed, black girl magic is real.”