Clinton camp rips 'terribly weak' Trump on health records

Hillary Clinton's campaign sees no reason to put out an update on her health, chief strategist Joel Benenson said Thursday, smacking down Donald Trump's insinuations and calling on the Republican nominee to release medical records comparable to those put out by the Democratic candidate's campaign in July.

Trump knows that there is no issue with Clinton's health, Benenson told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, remarking that it "must be driving his ego crazy that she's outworking him, outthinking him, connecting better with the American voters about the issues that matter in their life."


"Hillary Clinton flew around the world as secretary of state, flew around the world, I should say, more than a million miles. People saw her stamina testifying against Congress for 11 hours and not wavering for one minute. And, by the way, her health records — her doctor put out four times as much information as Donald Trump's," Benenson said.

He then referred to the letter released by the Trump campaign last December from a physician who attested the businessman would be "the healthiest individual elected to the presidency."

"I mean, what a ludicrous thing for a physician to say. He hasn't examined a single other person other than Donald Trump who's running for president. It's bogus and ludicrous," Benenson continued, adding that Trump "ought to start by putting out his health records as extensive as Hillary Clinton's" and releasing his tax returns.

Asked about a series of allegations and memes circulating on the Internet and in conservative media about Clinton's health, Benenson denounced them by remarking that they "do not even rise to a level of rebuttal."

"They're ludicrous, they’re ridiculous, they’re trumped-up allegations because they’ve got a desperate candidate who since his convention has had his net favorable rating decline by 15 points. The man is 32 points underwater," Benenson said.

Mitchell later asked Benenson why he thinks Trump, 70, would go after someone who is actually younger than he is by more than a year.

"Because I think he's terribly weak right now; I think his ego is probably battered because he's getting battered in the polls, which he used to love to cite. I think because he's a man who’s feeling kind of — you know, a little at a loss right now," Benenson said. He noted that Trump went after "the family of a fallen war hero, a man who gave his life to save his troops for this country."

Trump, he continued, "has been unraveling since his convention, and I think that's showing up every day in the reaction of the American people and in the reaction of Republicans in his own party."

"Every day, there are more Republicans coming out and saying I cannot support this man," Benenson added. "Business leaders, generals, national security experts, and I think that what you're seeing is a man who's unraveling before the American people because he's a failed candidate and a failing campaign."