Hillary Clinton leaves New York Presbyterian Hospital with husband, Bill (TOP), and daughter, Chelsea (RIGHT) on January 2, 2013. The secretary of state was under treatment for a blood clot that stemmed from a concussion she suffered in mid-December.
- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suffered a concussion and blood clot in December 2012, for which she was hospitalized for three days
- Karl Rove suggested last week that Hillary Clinton is hiding something about her health
- On Tuesday Bill Clinton spoke out about his wife's health and said 'there's nothing to' the Republican's claims
- Hillary's concussion 'required six months of very serious work to get over,' Bill said. 'It's something she never low-balled with the American people, never tried to pretend it didn't happen.'
- But the State Department said less
Her long recovery is 'something she never low-balled,' Bill said.
But Bill's timeline contradicts the State Department's claims just after the conclusion of Hillary's treatment in January 2013 that 'she seems to be fully recovered.'
Hillary Clinton took ill at some point the week of December 9, 2012, just as she was supposed to testify before a Congressional committee about the terrorist attack that took four American lives in Benghazi, Libya three months before.
After falling in her home, Clinton incurred a concussion. The State Department did not say what day the accident occurred, but it described her concussion on December 13 as 'not severe.'
It was not until December 15 that State explained Clinton's accident was related to a stomach virus that caused her to become dehydrated and faint.
At that time, a State Department spokesman claimed that Clinton would be working from home the following week and would be 'staying in regular contact with Department and other officials.'
Clinton continued to stay at home for the following two weeks, and on December 30, a State Department spokesman announced that he had found a blood clot 'in the course of a follow-up exam' and that she was being 'treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours.'
The following day, Clinton's doctor's released a statement describing the location of the clot as in 'the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear.'
'It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage,' the statement said.
On January 2, doctors sent Clinton home from the hospital, and on January 7, Clinton returned to work.
It was on Clinton's first day back in the office that State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that 'judging by the woman we saw this morning and the workload that she's got she seems to be fully recovered.'
Hillary Clinton speaks during a news conference at Stormont Castle in Belfast on December 7, 2012. This photo was taken on the day Clinton was last seen publicly before taking ill.
Former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove reignited the debate about Hillary's physical and mental condition last week when he suggested at a conference that she was hiding something about her health.
'Thirty days in the hospital?' Rove said, according to the New York Post. 'And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that.'
The Post insinuated that Rove claimed Hillary may be suffering from brain damage as a result of the clot.
'Karl Rove has deceived the country for years, but there are no words for this level of lying,' Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill fired back.
'She is 100%. Period,' he said of Hillary's heath.
Rove told Fox News on Tuesday he never said Hillary had brain damage.
'She had a serious health episode and my point was that I think it was from the 7th of December in 2012 through the 7th of January of 2013, she underwent, first she had apparently a serious virus,' he said after being confronted with the fact that the former secretary of state was only in the hospital for three days, not 30 days.
After Rove explained his comments on Fox, Merrill accused Republicans of politicizing Hillary's health.
'First they accused her of faking it, now they've resorted to the other extreme -- and are flat out lying,' he said.
'Even this morning, Karl Rove is still all over the map and is continuing to get the facts wrong. But he doesn't care, because all he wants to do is inject the issue into the echo chamber, and he's succeeding. It's flagrant and thinly veiled.'
Former President Bill Clinton divulged on Wednesday that it took former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton six months to recover from a fainting spell that led to a concussion and blood clot in late 2012.
'They went to all this trouble to say she had staged what was a terrible concussion that required six months of very serious work to get over,' he said. 'It's something she never low-balled with the American people, never tried to pretend it didn't happen."
Clinton laughed Hillary's critics off, saying, 'You can't be too upset about it.'
'It's just the beginning. They'll get better and better about it,' he said. 'It's just part of the deal.'
As for Rove, Clinton said, 'I got to give him credit, you know, that embodies that old saying that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.'
Clinton said his wife was in good health.
'Look, she works out every week. She is strong. She is doing great,' Clinton said according to Buzzfeed. 'As far as I can tell, she's in better shape than I am.'
Hillary left the State Department in February of 2013, less than a month after returning in the wake of her accident. She hit the speaking circuit just five months later in July of 2013.
The presumed 2016 candidate has spent the last year giving speeches on he own behalf and on behalf of the Clinton Foundation and working on her memoir, Hard Choices, which comes out in June.
She was also in Washington for a speech, yesterday. Unlike her husband, she did not discuss the controversy surrounding her recovery, however.
I have to admit that I have suspected that for years, but it got highlighted in her bid for being the presidential candidate and when she got on to the international stage as secretary of state. I have an equally strong suspicion that John Kerry suffers from it too, not to say most of the current senate and congress and sitting administration.
Just a suspicion ya know.