Bill Clinton accidentally downgrades Hillary's diagnosis to 'the flu'

A spokesman for Bill Clinton said the former president misspoke Wednesday when he joked about his wife having the flu at the start of a campaign rally in Nevada.

“It’s a crazy time we live in. You know, when people think there’s something unusual about getting the flu,” Bill Clinton said. “Last time I checked, millions of people were getting it every year.”


Hillary Clinton has been off the campaign trail this week as she recovers from pneumonia, which is what a spokesman said Bill Clinton intended to say. The former president took the place of his wife at fundraisers earlier this week in California while she rested at the family’s home in Chappaqua, New York.

The former secretary of state’s campaign said she was diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday but the illness was not made public until Sunday, when she left an event commemorating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks early and had to be helped into the van she departed in. Her campaign initially said Hillary Clinton had grown overheated and suffered from dehydration, but later in the day announced the pneumonia diagnosis.