Pneumonia forces Hillary Clinton to leave 9/11 ceremony

Hillary Clinton has cancelled a trip to California to attend fundraising events after it emerged the Democratic presidential nominee has pneumonia and been advised to rest by her doctor.

An aide announced the cancellation on Sunday night following Clinton’s abrupt departure from the 9/11 memorial ceremony in downtown Manhattan because, her campaign initially said, she felt “overheated”.

Clinton was scheduled to attend fundraisers on Monday and Tuesday in California, and tape an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

On Sunday morning Clinton was helped into a car away from the memorial, where she had been attending a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. She later travelled to her daughter’s apartment, and eventually to her home in Chappaqua, New York, before her campaign gave a more complete explanation of what had happened.

“Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies,” Lisa R Bardack said in a statement. “On Friday, during follow up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule.

“While at this morning’s event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now re-hydrated and recovering nicely.”

Clinton left the Ground Zero ceremony after an hour and 30 minutes.

A statement from campaign spokesman Nick Merrill subsequently said: “Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and 30 minutes this morning to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen.”

Later versions of the statement omitted the word “just”.

Reporters travelling with the campaign noticed Clinton’s departure from the memorial at about 9.36am. The campaign did not respond to their questions or those from the Guardian until 11.03am local time, an unusually long lapse from a meticulous campaign organisation.

Clinton left her daughter’s apartment at about 11.45am, smiling and waving to a scrum of cameras and posing for a picture with a young girl before stepping into a campaign vehicle.

“I’m feeling great. It’s a beautiful day in New York,” she said, before heading for her home in Chappaqua, in New York state.

Clinton, who spoke at a fundraising event in New York on Friday night, recently sustained a coughing attack during a campaign event in Cleveland, fuelling rightwing suspicion about her health and leading to the creation of a hashtag, #HackingHillary.

Her opponent, Donald Trump, used reaction on social media to push his case that the press is biased, tweeting: “Mainstream media never covered Hillary’s massive ‘hacking’ or coughing attack, yet it is #1 trending. What’s up?”

Despite a lack of evidence that Clinton is in poor health, Trump and his allies have insinuated that her health is declining and she “lacks the stamina” to be commander-in-chief at the age of 68. Clinton’s campaign has accused her 70-year-old opponent of peddling conspiracy theories.

Rumors about Clinton’s health appear to stem from a 2012 incident in which Clinton fell, a mishap attributed to a stomach virus. She suffered a concussion and a subsequent blood clot in the brain, which later testing showed to have cleared completely.