Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani admitted on Thursday that he has no “evidence” to back up his frequent assertions that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton may be suffering from a secret illness.
“Have you got any evidence besides—do you have any evidence that she’s ill?” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked on “Hardball.”
“I don’t,” Giuliani replied.
Pressed again for any proof that Clinton is sick, Giuliani pointed to incidents in which the former secretary of state has coughed in public.
“I have eight times online since January in which she’s had massive coughing fits in which she couldn’t complete her speech,” he said. “I’ve seen her lifted onto airplanes. And I don’t know what’s wrong with her.”
When Giuliani, a close ally of Donald Trump who has been one of the most prominent promoters of rumors about Clinton’s health, then tried to pivot to a discussion of her email server, Matthews cut him off.
“I’m not getting anywhere with you,” the “Hardball” host said, exasperated.
“You are adamant there’s a health concern with the candidate for president of the Democratic Party,” he went on.
“I don’t know,” Giuliani replied.
“You say there’s a health condition problem,” Matthews said.
“I don’t know,” Giuliani repeated.
“Well, what are you saying? What is he saying?” Matthews pressed.
“All I do is see all these incidents of her coughing all the time. I don’t know what it is,” Giuliani said. “And I have seen her in several other situations where she didn’t look healthy.”
The Trump surrogate has in the past encouraged voters to look into conspiracies about Clinton’s health, telling them to “Google ‘Hillary Clinton illness.'” In August he even published an op-ed in USA Today claiming that he was “performing a public service” by stoking evidence-free allegations about the Democratic nominee’s health.
