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Hillary Clinton Diagnosed with Pneumonia on Friday; Clinton Caught on Camera Stumbling While Leaving 9/11 Event Early. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 11, 2016 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Our CNN national reporter M.J. Lee is outside of Sophie Clinton's apartment, and I know, just to be clear for your viewers, she was there for a bit, she had left, she was supposedly at home, the latest in Chappaqua, New York. But what is the latest in terms of how she is doing and what her campaign is saying?

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Poppy, we actually have not heard from the Clinton campaign for several hours now. The only statement that we got from the campaign was late in the morning, when the campaign said that Clinton did, in fact, get overheated, and that is why she left the 9/11 memorial early and ended up coming here to Sophie Clinton's home.

What we can report, Poppy, is that according to Law Enforcement officials, Clinton did in fact appear to faint. I want to be careful to emphasize that this is not something that the campaign has confirmed, this is according to Law Enforcement officials who told CNN that Clinton did in fact appear to faint this morning. We'll let you know if the campaign ends up updating us and gives us any more information on her status right now.

And you're right, she did come here this morning to her daughter's home. And when she came out she said she was feeling great, she was smiling, she even paused to take a photo with a little girl that was waiting outside.

No updates as of right now on whether the episode this morning will end up affecting her travel plans.

HARLOW: Right.

LEE: Tomorrow, she was supposed to fly to California. She has a number of fundraising and campaign events scheduled on the West Coast. We don't know yet whether any of those plans will end up being affected.

HARLOW: OK, M.J. Lee, thank you very much for that reporting. Do stay with us. Last year, Clinton's personal physician did release a letter signing off on her health completely.

That letter from Dr. Lisa Bardack in Mt. Kisco, New York, saying that Clinton is in "excellent physical condition and fit to serve as president." The doctor also noting that Clinton had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and suffered from deep vein thrombosis as well as she had a back concussion back in 2012.

To treat that, Clinton takes something called Armour Thyroid and the blood thinner Coumadin. So, let's talk about all this with our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, I want to get first to what we're learning from Law Enforcement. M.J. Lee just reported this is from the Clinton camp. This is from Law Enforcement, saying she appears to have fainted. What do you make of that?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I don't know what to make of that. People use that term in different sort of ways. You saw the video, I saw the video. I'm not sure if you're talking about the point where she stumbled, appears to have fainted versus someone's who had fainted, lost consciousness, or has a change in consciousness.

I don't know. You know, I can't tell. So someone is saying that. They saw that and that is confirmed. That, obviously, would be another piece of information. But you have to piece it together with everything else still.

HARLOW: You're right. And we're just not going to do that. We're going to be extraordinarily, you know, accurate with just what we see here. So let's have you look at what you see, Sanjay, happening.

GUPTA: Yeah, you see her standing there. She is clearly getting some help while she is standing there. But, you know, look at these movements. She has difficulty with balance, clearly stumbles, trying to get into the van at that point and is then, obviously the doors is closed and we don't see her again until from whatever, an hour and a half to two hours later where she appears fine.

So, what do I see there? It's somebody who is clearly having difficulty with their balance. I don't know that you can say anything more than that. I don't know that you can say that she fainted, necessarily looking at that video.

But it's somebody who either because of dehydration, low blood pressure, something created an impact that obviously led her to have just difficulty navigating those few steps.

HARLOW: So let's talk about dehydration, Sanjay. If there was dehydration, you had mentioned earlier she does take antihistamines, right, for her allergies? Could that lead to dehydration? Medications that one is on?

GUPTA: Yeah. I think the --- you know, common things need to be thought of that is common for falls, dehydration jumps to the top of the list. Again, this is all speculative, Poppy, whether it is big or whether it is small, it is still speculative, but dehydration comes to the top of the list with the conditions that someone hasn't eaten enough, drank enough fluids recently, those types of things. You think about how long someone's been outside. The antihistamines, we know that recently she talked about the fact that she has increased her dose of antihistamines, because she has had these troubles with allergies.

Antihistamines, decongestants, as they are also known, they dry up your sinuses. They take away, you know, nasal congestion. They work well with that. The problem is they can also cause you to essentially have dehydration in your body as well.

So either that can be sedating and cause dehydration-type symptoms. So that is one place you would look.

Some of the other medications could play a role here as well including the thyroid medication. But again, none of these things probably an isolation but rather as a combination. And making sure that you realize that -- we still don't know. There has been no doctor reports.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: There has been no statements. There has been nothing. She doesn't appear to have even had a checkup after that episode, so we have nothing objective to wrap this around.

[17:05:00] HARLOW: And I'm just going to read the statement that we have from Nick Merrill, her spokesperson, who put this out about 90 minutes after she left the ceremony this morning.

This is the latest that you have. He said she attended the ceremony, etc., etc. He said that she was there for about an hour and 30 minutes to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen.

During that ceremony she felt overheated that they decided to go to her daughter's apartment and is feeling much better.

We do know from her medical history that in 2010 she suffered a blood clot between her brain and her skull. Her doctor has then come out and said that is completely resolved. Once a person has a condition like that, has a blood clot, are there any special considerations? We know she is on blood thinners.

GUPTA: Right. Well, you know, so I think that was 2012, by the way, and I think that one of the things that you think about is that somebody has had a blow to the head, they call it a concussion.

A concussion is a bit of a misnomer. It is a -- you know, it is a brain injury, it's a head injury. And then she developed that blood clot in a blood vessel around her brain at that time as well.

Apparently, she has already been on blood thinners and developed this clot despite being on those blood thinners. And what we have heard from her medical note, and these are not full medical records, is looking at the follow-up.

There would be concern. There some long-term impact from this. But the follow-up from her medical notes says she has been tested and there is no long-term impact to her brain from this, and that the blood clot is resolved.

So she remains on blood thinners but is very careful Dr. Bardack, and I have the note right here in front of me from July of last year, says there was no -- there is no long-term impact. There was complete resolution of any of her symptoms as a result of that episode back in 2012.

So, Poppy, I think you're bringing up an important point as she had a fainting episode back in 2012. We don't know whether it was a fainting episode today. You have heard it characterized as such by Law Enforcement.

I think a larger question would be, you know, what is the fainting episode about? Is this really just dehydration, which it very well could be? Is this dehydration plus a combination of medications, which it could be? But she did not get a checkup today. And I think that that would be important even if it were a basic checkup. Forget that she is Hillary Clinton. Forget that she is a candidate for president. Anybody who has an episode like this should probably get checked out.

HARLOW: Look, this letter says that she had experienced no side effects from her medications. Talk to me about the medications that we do know that she is on. She is on Armour Thyroid for hypothyroidism and she is on something called Coumadin. What are those?

GUPTA: So Armour Thyroid is basically to -- is someone who has hypothyroidism, which means that they don't have enough hormone in the body, oftentimes they will have symptoms where they'll actually be cold intolerant, they'll feel lethargic and tired. Eventually, they may get a blood test that shows that the thyroid levels are low. And if they are, they can be given thyroid replacements, and Armour is one of the ways to do that.

The thing about giving thyroid is that you're essentially giving now the thyroid hormone and it can cause to have the opposite symptoms. It can make people feel heat intolerant. So, this act could be where this overheating sort of thing that's coming from. And also, it revs up the metabolism. That is what thyroid hormone does.

The Coumadin, that's the blood thinner that we're talking about. And again, she seems to have been on this blood thinner or some version of a blood thinner for several years now and apparently was on it even at the time that she hit her head back in 2012. But despite that, did not have brain bleeding, which should be the big concern, according to her medical reports, but instead developed a blood clot in one of the blood vessels.

HARLOW: So why -- you say she was on this blood thinner before she had that fall ...

(CROSSTALK)

GUPTA: Yeah. HARLOW: ... and concussion. You know, there are a number of, you know, people 50 and older, 60 and older who take aspirin, Sanjay, right? Daily amounts, low doses of aspirin to keep their blood thin, right?

What is the difference between that and being on Coumadin?

GUPTA: Coumadin is more powerful.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: OK.

GUPTA: It's a real blood thinner and she had a history -- I don't know if you -- if we had made mention of it yet but she had a history even before 2012 of having what is known as deep vein thrombosis ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: ... there are blood clots in the legs. You oftentimes can treat them with blood thinners because you don't want them to break off and travel to the lungs. So she had been on blood thinners even prior to 2012 and you can see there -- most recently in 2009. And I think she had been on blood thinners since that time.

HARLOW: Sanjay, before I let you go, you know, before this happens, the question about both candidates releasing their medical records to the public has been broadly discussed fro purely medical perspective. With that piece valuable information to the American voting public for both candidates who are both - she is almost 69, he is 70, should see their medical records?

GUPTA: I think so. I think -- I have always thought that was a good idea. I think at a minimum, there probably needs to be an independent board of doctors who don't have a relationship with the candidates to vet this sort of thing, you know? The thing about these doctors and the candidates, I mean, a lot of times are friends as well as ...

HARLOW: Right.

[17:10:00] GUPTA: ... doctors and end up one of those not suggesting anything that would come out of as a bluff and objective but if you're friends with the candidate, we clearly saw, you know, that we don't give information.

We are getting just a summary information. I think back when Senator McCain was running for president, he released his medical records for a short time to a group of reporters, I was one of them. It's a stack of medical records. We had several hours to go through that and sort of derive your own opinions from that sort of thing.

I think in this episode, at a minimum, it seems that there should be a better explanation of what exactly happened today and maybe even have her doctor talk about being able to answer some questions about what may have precipitated what we saw today while she was getting into the van.

HARLOW: Right. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for all that important information. And that is what we know at this point. Again, we'll update you when we hear any more from the Clinton camp on this. Sanjay, thank you.

And a lot, at this hour, Americans sort of long to pay close attention to the health of their Commander-in-Chief. So how could a health concern, like today, affect one's campaign for President? We have got less than 60 days to go about with that. And the best indication of how to (inaudible) in the changing outcomes from polls in some key swing states. We'll take a look at how the numbers show a much, much tighter race than just a week ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00] HARLOW: Well, Hillary Clinton this morning left a 9/11 commemoration ceremony here in New York City, early. That is after her campaign said she felt overheated. We want to show you some of the videos just captured by someone who was attending the service.

You see secret service agents helping her as she gets into the van. She sort of stumbles and wobbles a bit. She just now state she came out and spoke a bit. The press very quickly said she is "feeling great." But when you talk about the optics of this, 60 days out from election, there are a lot of questions that people -- let's bring in CNN Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley, he joins me from Austin, Texas.

And I just want to be very clear with our viewers just like we were with Sanjay in the last block (ph), all we know is from her campaign she overheated. Two Law Enforcement sources are telling CNN that she appears to have fainted. But again, that is not confirmed by her doctor and that is not confirmed by her campaign. What does history teach us about how concerned voters are about the health of the candidates running for the White House?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, we're concerned. But, you know, we're a country that elected Franklin D. Roosevelt four times when we knew he had polio and was wheelchair-bound.

So there is a very high ability to just put health in kind of a reasonable perspective. So, this is not a big event that occurred in my mind today. I mean, Hillary Clinton didn't do anything wrong. She has been crisscrossing the country. I don't know how any of these candidates do it. And she is on an extreme heat, got a little bit dizzy and was in awkward moment.

But there are times, in U.S. presidential campaigns when a bad video bite, like we're seeing with her stumbling into the car can cause pain. So -- and Mrs. Clinton I think needs to be transparent immediately on just what happened and try to explain to the public what it is.

HARLOW: And Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our chief medical correspondent, just said to me, look it would be a good idea for both of these candidates to release their health records and frankly, have an independent board of doctors who discusses their health rather than their personal doctors who, you know, you often become friends with.

What is the historical precedent for that, or is there none to get health records for candidates?

BRINKLEY: Well, I agree with him that would be ideal. But we're also very late in the game right now. There are times when candidates' health just causes big problems. I mean, think about Thomas Eagleton, the VP candidate for George McGovern running in 1972.

He had a background of mental illness, psychiatric problems and McGovern campaign tried to cover it up. It eventually broke loose then it cost George McGovern terribly to not be transparent on that.

And I remember in 1992, January, when George Herbert Walker Bush fainted and threw up on the lap of a Japanese prime minister, and that bite, that video clip kind of -- was very haunting.

So I think we need to - we have a right to know the medical history of somebody running for president, but these candidates have their own doctors who are all going to say they're fit as a fiddle.

I think it's important for Hillary Clinton not to do what John F. Kennedy did in 1960 and tried to hide his condition. She needs to be transparent about where she is at with her past concussion and just tell us what happened today and move on.

I think the key thing to watch is will she get on the plane and go to San Francisco tomorrow and keep going on the campaign trail, or is this going to make her cancel ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: So why do you say ...

BRINKLEY: ... we'll have to wait and see.

HARLOW: Right. So she's supposed to go to California tomorrow, fundraising in San Francisco. Why do you say that's a key if she gets on the plane? I mean, you know, if you're talking about -- you know these candidates are flying across the country back and forth and clearly what they do is exhausting. Are you saying she has to get on that plane or else the optics are just going to be too tough for her?

BRINKLEY: Well, if she is not going to invite a doctor to Chappaqua, not going to get bags of fluid if she was dehydrated and really was just fine, felt a little dizzy for a minute, that means she would be onward, carrying on, going to California. But if you start canceling things, it's going to feed into the Trump campaign's really conspiratorial notion that she is unfit for command and she has been covering up her health woes for a while. So, if she can get on that plane tomorrow, I certainly would do it.

HARLOW: Douglas Brinkley, with a historical perspective for us. Thank you so much. And still to come ...

(CROSSTALK)

BRINKLEY: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: ... the national polls showing a very tight presidential race right now and see battleground space (ph) for the real fight hinges on Wednesday. So we will look at the newest numbers and some of those battlegrounds, live in the CNN "Newsroom".

[17:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News".

HARLOW: All right, we do have breaking news into CNN. An update on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's health. What we have just learned from an aide is that Hillary Clinton's doctor attended to her at her home in Chappaqua today after she arrived there.

And here is the full statement from her doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack, the Chairman of Internal Medicine at Mt. Kisco Medical Group.

"Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during a follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics and advised to rest and monitor her schedule."

"While at this morning's event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely."

The headline out of that. So Hillary Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia. She has been checked out by her doctor, the doctor said she is rehydrated and "recovering nicely at her home." Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, back with me.

Sanjay, what do you make of what the doctor has said that she has pneumonia?

GUPTA: Well, it's the first time we're hearing of this obviously, and we heard about the coughing episodes that she has had, and those have been attributed to allergies and even heard that she was increasing the dose of her antihistamines.

Pneumonia is a very different diagnosis. That means obviously an infection of the lungs. The doctor has put her on antibiotics which suggest that it's a bacterial infection of the lungs.

And you know, it's a diagnosis that you can actually understand why someone would curtail their schedule and sometimes you need to, you know, basically just be home, be rehydrated and take those medications for a period of time to recover from that.

So, despite this diagnosis that it sounds like came on Friday, we still obviously saw the schedule that she was keeping this weekend with this planned travel even tomorrow. And then the note that you just read, Poppy, and I saw it as well.

They said they had advised to modify the schedule. I'm not sure -- now it would make sense, I'm not sure how the schedule was modified if it was.

[17:25:00] HARLOW: Well, it is interesting because she did sit down on Friday. This pneumonia diagnosis came on Friday. We don't know what time it came.

On Friday is when she sat down, you know, for an interview with our Chris Cuomo that you have been seeing on CNN all day today, and she went along with the weekend plans and she went to the 9/11 commemoration ceremony this morning.

Sanjay, we know that in September, you know, not long ago, about a week ago, she was in Cleveland and she had that sort of coughing fit, if you will, for a few moments. That now seems to make more sense, right?

GUPTA: I think so. Although it's a little bit tough to piece this all together again, and you know, I'm not -- I don't think anybody can really piece it together except probably for her and her doctor.

But the distinguished coughing episode due to allergies, which would be something as an allergen that's irritating and you're taking antihistamines for that, or allergy medication, that's different from pneumonia or it's even different from bronchitis, you know.

Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. It's an infection as opposed to an allergen. It's a bacteria as being suggested here because she has been treated for antibiotics. It is typically diagnosed because someone has fevers, they have difficulty breathing, and it's often diagnosed with a chest x-ray, typically something that's done at a hospital.

So there could be -- these could all wrap together somehow. Maybe she thought it was allergies and then Dr. Bardack diagnosed her with this pneumonia as to causing her coughing. But you know, again, I think we're still dealing with limited information here. This -- you know, it's tough and it's speculative without more complete information.

HARLOW: Right. And therefore it's hard to make a judgment. One of the questions is, is she supposed to travel again across country, to California for tomorrow a fundraise in San Francisco. I guess that she is not your patient. She is not (inaudible). You would not be able to get much information, if they whether or not that is something she should do.

GUPTA: Yeah. You know -- absolutely. And I think that is going to be true for anybody except for her and her doctor, bit I think pneumonia, you know, someone has an infection of the lungs, it can take awhile to recover from that and you do need to rest, you are at risk of becoming dehydrated in part because you oftentimes have fevers associated with the pneumonia, that can make the dehydration even worse.

You typically don't feel well. Being on a plane can make the things even potentially a little bit worse. So who knows? I don't know the severity of the pneumonia. I don't know how well.

Dr. Bardack says she is recovering nicely now. I don't know what that means, exactly. She clearly had an episode today. She clearly sound like had this diagnosis on Friday and she is on medications now.

A new one we're just learning about for the first time, an antibiotic. So, you know, I think there are several things that are going on here that's painting a better picture but still not a complete picture.

HARLOW: And Sanjay, stay with me because as we bring M.J. Lee in, our political reporter who is outside Sophie Clinton's apartment, where Hillary Clinton went today after she stumbled and got into the van.

I also want her team to bring up the video we're getting into the van but also the video from walking out of Sophie's Clinton's apartment. Because I think it's important to see how she was acting two hours later when she came out and address the media. So I think get that.

M.J., let me ask you, is the campaign responding, are they saying anything at this time now that we have the statement from the doctor?

LEE: Not quite yet. We have not heard from Clinton's campaign as to whether her travel arrangements will be changed as a result of this doctors' note. They have certainly not reacted to the new information that we're getting from her long-time physician.

I think as Sanjay said, this is limited information still that we are dealing with but certainly very new information we're getting that she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. I find that very interesting because right now, today is Sunday.

We did not know, members of the press, the campaign did not inform anybody that this was something that was going on. On Friday, she had a busy schedule. She had a big national security meeting and then she held a press conference and exactly interesting thinking back that Friday I was in the room when she held that press conference and I remember thinking you could tell, sitting up close, that she was struggling to contain a pause. You could tell that her throat was clearly bothering her.

You know that in recent weeks she had had these coughing fits out on the campaign trail and then when she was done with the press conference, she let out a big cough as she was walking away from the podium.

This is something that reporters actually were talking about a little bit afterwards and just noting that this something that was going on. So very interesting that she knew about this since Friday but, you know, continued on with, or perhaps the doctor's diagnosis came after that press conference, we don't really know.

I think the big question is whether the campaign will sort of take the advice of the doctor more seriously. The doctor did say in this letter she should rest and modify her schedule.

She is, out of right now, set to go to California tomorrow, we don't know yet whether the campaign will cancel that or delay that trip.

[17:30:00] HARLOW: Right. M.J., you said it is interesting that we're only finding out now and perhaps because of this episode that she was diagnosed on Friday. Is it atypical for a campaign to withhold -- not put that information out there right when they learn about the diagnosis or is that standard?

LEE: Look, certainly I can say that there has been many questions swirling about her health, in large part because her opponent, Donald Trump, and his surrogates have raised many questions about whether she is in a good state of health.

I think this has been a very politically sensitive topic, something that the Clinton campaign has tried very hard to brush away. That, obviously, morning like today, that was sort of the worst-case scenario where you get video of her stumbling.

Law Enforcement officials saying that she appeared to faint. That is not the kind of distraction that they wanted, especially the kind of distraction related to be an issue of her health.

HARLOW: All right, Sanjay and M.J., please stay with me. I do want to also bring in on the phone Dan Merica, he is another seasoned politics reporter. He is in Chappaqua, New York, outside of New York City, outside of her home where Hillary Clinton we know went today after she left her daughter, Sophie Clinton's apartment.

And Dan, what are you seeing there? What is the mood? Have you seen Hillary Clinton come out of her home at all since she arrived there earlier this afternoon.

DAN MERICA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Hey, Poppy. We have not. I mean, it is pretty much business as usual up here. The secret service as they do everyday has blocked off the street that she lives on.

We haven't seen her come out. She reports she arrived some time in the 1 o'clock hour. And her doctor was waiting for her there or was in there -- came to the house to examine her there after she had this incident leaving the 9/11 memorial.

It's important to know as M.J. said, you know, the doctor suggested that she modify her schedule. She and her press corps are supposed to fly to California tomorrow morning. And then there is a fundraiser in California, in San Francisco, and then she has two fundraisers on Tuesday as well as an event in the Los Angeles area. And then Wednesday, she is supposed to give the speech and campaign more in Nevada in Las Vegas.

I'm told that the campaign is taking the doctor's recommendation seriously. They take the diagnosis of pneumonia seriously. But as of now there has been no change to her schedule.

She is still slated to go and fly to L.A. tomorrow. And as for how the campaign feels they know that this is, you know, likely something that Trump supporters and Trump, maybe himself, will use to point out Secretary Clinton's health, questions about her health. They certainly have been doing that.

And the issue with the video is that it, you know, questions about her health have been living in the Right Wing had a news sphere for a while now.

As to the point with the Clinton campaign, it had to weigh in with a statement a couple of few weeks ago from Clinton's doctor. With a video like this, what happened at ground zero today it is just going to elevate that, and make it sort of more a mainstream conversation.

HARLOW: And everything leads to you. I mean, Douglas Brinkley, the presidential historian, just said to me a little bit earlier in the hour, look, you know, it could be problematic from an optic perspective if she doesn't get on the plane tomorrow morning. But health is primary. I mean, that is it, right?

So, do you have any insight into how the campaign is grappling with this? The doctor says modified schedule but she is recovering nicely? And how they will make that determination whether or not she goes tomorrow?

LEE: Yeah, I mean, certainly there are optics at play here. But I think the campaign has to sort of weigh the two options, right?

One is to not heed the doctor's advice and go on with her travels anyway. And then I think risk her being exhausted, tired, and potentially her illness right now getting worse.

And I think the other thing, as you pointed out, is that if she does cancel her plans for tomorrow, then yes, her critics could point to that and say look, we should be more concerned about her state of health right now.

I did want to point out, since we're talking about Donald Trump and his side of things and whether there has been a reaction from him, the campaign has been very, very quiet today.

Donald Trump was asked very briefly if he knew about Hillary Clinton and her health episode earlier today, and he said that he did not. But other than that brief interaction with the press, I don't believe the campaign has really weighed in.

And remember, this is politically a strategy coming from the Donald Trump campaign. The campaign has said on 9/11 they do not want to weigh into politics. So that seems to be their strategy right now.

[17:35:00] HARLOW: Sanjay, to you, look, this doctor, the note that we have from Hillary Clinton's doctor, D. Lisa Bardack, that's the same doctor that cleared her and gave her a clean bill of health one year ago in July and said that she was, you know, essentially perfectly healthy and fit to be president.

Sanjay, you always have patient-doctor confidentiality, right? The doctor can't release anything to the public unless the patient has given them permission. Are there any other rules that apply to doctors when they're dealing with presidential candidates in terms of what they can or cannot say?

GUPTA: No. I think that the rules are pretty much the same. You know, you are still -- the confidentiality clauses and the confidentiality agreements are still very much intact.

And doctors, I guarantee you that Dr. Bardack would not have released that note that you just put up on the screen ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: ... without Secretary Clinton approving that. And knowing about it ahead of time.

But I think it is still interesting, this doesn't get buried here is that on Friday, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. That is still ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: ... typically to diagnose somebody with pneumonia, it involves, you know, someone actually doing the physical exam, someone having a suspicion of pneumonia because of fever, because if difficulty with breathing or the coughing episodes could have been part of that as you said earlier.

Typically involves a chest x-ray as well. So something that is done in a clinic or hospital or something. I don't -- we didn't hear about any of that until today. None of that -- and that's -- that's the -- this is the first time we're hearing about it and it's a more serious diagnosis, something very treatable, but still a more serious diagnosis.

HARLOW: It's a very important point. Because M.J., to Sanjay's point about if she was diagnosed Friday, you know, were all of these tests done on Friday? Because Sanjay, you diagnose pretty quickly after those tests are done, right? On the same day?

GUPTA: Yeah. You can get results back quickly.

HARLOW: OK. So, M.J., you were with her part of the day Friday. She sat down for the interview with Chris Cuomo and you said she had a very busy schedule on Friday.

LEE: That is right. She held that big national security meeting and then she proceeded to hold a press conference where she took questions from the press and then she sat down with CNN's Chris Cuomo.

So yes, it was a relatively busy day and as I mentioned earlier, you could tell sitting close up to the podium that she was clearly sort of trying not to cough.

And then as soon as the press conference was over, she turned around, started walking away and let out a pretty big cough. These coughing fits have sort of followed her around the last couple of weeks and she has said that those were allergies.

Her doctor said today that she did, in fact, have allergy-related cough but obviously we know now the diagnosis as of Friday is that she has pneumonia.

HARLOW: And finally, to you, Sanjay, just a final word before I get a break in here, just on all that has developed in just the past few moments and we went through at the beginning of this of her sort of medical history the fact that she did have that blood clot back in 2012, and her doctor said she has been completely cleared of that, that she has no side effects from her medications. Now, this pneumonia diagnosis. Your thoughts?

GUPTA: Common things are common, that goes without saying. So the idea someone could become dehydrated, even become overheated is a result of a combination of things. Some of the medications she is taking, maybe not getting enough food and drink in any particular time, the weather conditions. Whatever it may be, a combination of things could cause this certainly.

The pneumonia, again, brand-new information; had not heard that up until just now. Obviously, it could be a very significant contributing factor as well. It causes someone to have fever, it can cause someone to have difficulty with breathing, it can cause somebody's coughing episodes and it can cause them to be dehydrated.

So, it all seems to fit. But I still think that there's a little bit of an incomplete picture here. We're getting information sort of piecemeal here and I think it's common to, -- you know, because of this episode today, it is probably the only reason we're getting some of that information.

Doctors, like journalists, always want more information, Poppy. I think, you know, having Dr. Bardack actually come and answer some of these questions and more transparency around it, I think would go a long way because I think there are still some questions about exactly has been going on over the past several days.

HARLOW: Yeah. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for the expertise and daily reporting for us as well and Dan Merica. We're going to take a quick break, much more of "Breaking News" after this.

[17:40:00] (COMMERICAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News".

HARLOW: All right, we're back with our "Breaking News". Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, we've just learned in the past few moments, diagnosed with pneumonia, that diagnosis coming on Friday from her doctor, this all coming in the wake of having to leave the 9/11 ceremony early this morning. And you see her, she stumbles, helped by secret service into the van.

In just the last few moments, our Jeff Zeleny has reported that senior adviser to Clinton's campaign says that the trip planned for her to go to California tomorrow is now up in the air. Again, that trip to California up in the air, according to a senior adviser to the campaign in the wake of this health news and this pneumonia diagnosis that we just learned about.

We're also told by that senior adviser to the campaign, there is a "serious evaluation of her schedule going on at this point in time."

This comes just moments after we got this statement from Hillary Clinton's doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack. Let me read you the statement in full, after she valuated Clinton at her Chappaqua home today.

"Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during a follow up evaluation for 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 just examined her. She is now rehydrated and recovering nicely."

That statement coming from Dr. Lisa Bardack.

Our M.J. Lee reporting also that she was at the press conference that Hillary Clinton held on Friday. And that she nor any journalists were told by the campaign of any health concerns.

We've now learned that she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday but it has just become public in the last hour. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent back with me.

Sanjay, the campaign now is saying the trip in California is in the air and they are conducting a "serious evaluation" of her schedule.

[17:45:00] GUPTA: You know, given that this diagnosis of pneumonia came in on Friday, I guess it is a little surprising that that sort of evaluation of the schedule had not already been done. It sounds like that is what Dr. Bardack had suggested, I don't know if they were just trying to power through and hoping that, you know, she'd be able to get through.

But you know, pneumonia, again, this is a bit surprising. We're hearing about it for the first time now. The diagnosis made on Friday in the middle of what M.J. Lee described as a very busy day. Typically, it involves, you know, a doctor who is actually spending time listening to your lungs, someone likely having a fever, likely a chest x-ray or something to have made the diagnosis. Blood work is often done.

It's a totally treatable thing, there is no question about it. But it is a serious diagnosis still, and it's something that should not be taken lightly. So, it sounds like, Poppy, from what you're hearing, what the statements lead they are taking this more seriously now. Perhaps precipitated by today's episode.

HARLOW: Stay with me Sanjay, M.J. Lee is back with me.

And M.J., let's talk about this development. Our Jeff Zeleny reporting the campaign -- senior adviser to the campaign telling him, California trip in the air. There is serious evaluation under way. It doesn't answer the question as to why, you know, the public was not notified about this diagnosis two days ago when she received it.

LEE: Yeah, so we're starting to see the first signs that perhaps her trip to the west coast tomorrow could be in jeopardy here. As you noted, our Jeff Zeleny is reporting that according to a senior adviser, now the California trip that was supposed to take place tomorrow, is up in the air.

Interestingly, Jeff also notes, according to this adviser, there are questions now as to why Clinton went to a campaign fundraiser with Barbra Streisand on Friday anyway, and that is referring to this diagnosis from Clinton's doctor on Friday that she has pneumonia.

She also noted that Clinton needs to rest and potentially modify her schedule. On Friday, she had had a very busy schedule that started with the national security meeting in the morning, a press conference, after that press conference -- after that meeting, rather, and then she sat down with Chris Cuomo for an interview, and then she went to this fundraiser.

So, that was a packed campaign schedule day. And I think now there're some questions as to whether she really does need to take her doctor's advice a little more seriously.

HARLOW: M.J., stay with me, our Jeff Zeleny is on the phone with me fro Washington. Jeff, this is your reporting what you're hearing from the Clinton campaign, tell us more.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, good afternoon. I'm hearing M.J. was just saying that there is really now a conversation going on among Clinton's top advisers about how they have been scheduling her.

There has been a lot of conversation and criticism from Donald Trump. Oh, she takes naps. Oh, she is not out in the public very often. But that is actually not actually true at all if you really look at her schedule. She is, really, as covered five presidential campaigns, one of the most scheduled candidates that I have seen.

And in this case, some advisers wonder if she has been over-scheduled. And the Friday example is a key one they're looking at. She was indeed, as we now know, diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday. And we were at those national security briefing meeting that she had in New York City, in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, and then went to that Barbra Streisand concert.

And one democrat close to the campaign is telling me today, why did she need to be at that concert fundraiser? The checks were already in the mail. The event was already there. That was a big use of her time. And in fact, she also ended up using that time she gave a speech that she made a comment that she ended up apologizing for on Saturday about, you know, half of Donald Trump's supporters represent deplorable people.

So, right now, Poppy, there is a discussion going on inside Clinton world about how they have scheduled her. And you know, this health concern is something that is actually pretty serious. She is, you know -- keeps a very aggressive schedule. No doubt she wants to do all of this. She is not one to say no in the words of advisers. But there are now suggestions -- or conversations going on that her California trip tomorrow, she is scheduled to go to San Francisco Monday for a fundraiser, to Los Angeles on Tuesday for a couple of fundraisers and an economic speech, and to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

This schedule now is in question, I'm told, and at this point they are going to reevaluate in the next few days at least as she gets her health back under way, Poppy.

HARLOW: And Jeff, notable silence from the Trump campaign on this.

[17:50:00] ZELENY: It really is interesting. I mean, Donald Trump has commented on her health really throughout the campaign, talking about how she takes naps and how she is not aggressive in campaigning like him. They have not said anything at all.

We'll see how long that lasts, I think today at least it's notable that they're not saying anything at all here. But Poppy, interestingly to note at this point in the presidential campaign, most candidates in previous cycles do not go to all of their fundraisers. The checks come in, in support of the person's candidacy but you do not have to go to all of your fundraisers.

The Clinton campaign, she has actually struggled to raise money. She has worked very hard throughout the summer to raise money to go to all of these events. And she stands in long photo lines before all of these events kind of a classic old-style way as opposed to money coming in online and other things, and they're really reevaluating, wondering if this is the best use of her time as really, we are, you know, some 58 days before election day here, and you know the consequences certainly are deep here, Poppy.

HARLOW: Jeff Zeleny, stay with me as you continue your reporting on this and reaching out to your sources. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, back to you. If someone is being treated for pneumonia, you know, how are they treated? What medication do they get? Are they allowed to fly?

GUPTA: Well, it's hard to paint that with a broad brush stroke. I mean, you know, it's differing depending on how serious it is, how she's responding to therapies.

But, again, as I've been saying, it's a more serious diagnosis. So typically, in this case, it sounds like she has a bacterial pneumonia, so this is a bacteria that's causing it. It's an infection of the lung, and she's being treated with antibiotics.

But typically, people have fevers, they may have chest tightness, difficulty with breathing. We've heard a lot about these coughing episodes that she's had recently. They could all be related. But yeah, typically you do need a lot of rest, you do need a lot of fluids. You're losing fluids because of the fever. You're losing fluids because of the infection.

And there is not, I don't think, an absolute rule against flying, but I think a lot of doctors would suggest against it ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: ... because of the -- it could make the symptoms even worse. I don't know that it would make the pneumonia worse, but you might feel even worse as a result of the flying.

So, there is not an absolute formula here, but clearly it sounds like, again, on Friday, we're hearing about this for the first time now ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right.

GUPTA: ... so some of that guidance was given. Fall back, get rest.

HARLOW: Right. And I do want to pick on that point, Sanjay with M.J. Lee. I mean, M.J. to hear the statement we got from Nick Merrill, the spokesperson for her campaign hours ago, this morning, 90 minutes after she left the 9/11 commemoration ceremony early, all it mentioned was overheating. It did not mention the pneumonia diagnosis, the diagnosis that came two days prior.

LEE: That's right. We're only learning about the pneumonia diagnosis today. We now know that the pneumonia diagnosis actually came from Clinton's doctor on Friday. I think it's important to note sort of the dynamics in the presidential campaign right now that might have led the Clinton campaign to decide that they want her to be as active as she can be.

But we are talking a little bit about Jeff Zeleny, he's reporting that there are questions being raised about why she had to go to that fundraiser on Friday, for example. Well, look, we are now in the month of September. There is less than two months left until Election Day, and the polls have been tightening and the Clinton campaign is very aware of that.

They know that every campaign rally counts, they know that every interaction with the media counts. They know that every meeting counts, they know that every sit-down counts.

And so I think this is at a point at the campaign when the Clinton campaign wants to make as much effort as possible to get her message out there. There was an interesting moment this week on Clinton's plane when her spokesperson, Jennifer Palmieri was telling reporters about her plan to talk more about her personal story.

And a comment that stayed with me, Palmieri was pointing out that it does take a little more effort on the Clinton campaign's part to have sort of the positive message breakthrough because of the kind of candidate Donald Trump is on the other side of the aisle.

So I think we have seen some signs that the Clinton campaign really is making an effort to get herself out there and to really set the narrative for herself on her own, on her own terms, and I think Friday was clearly an example of perhaps the Clinton campaign over-scheduling her despite the doctor's orders to rest and modify her schedule.

HARLOW: And Jeff Zeleny, to you in Washington joining us on the phone again, I mean, you know, Sanjay spoke about the fact that it would probably be a good idea for the American public to be able to see the health records of all the candidates. Any indication from the Clinton camp that this may cause them to release more information about her health, put the health records out there?

[17:55:00] ZELENY: It's a great question, Poppy. So far no. So far the Clinton campaign has not indicated that they are any more likely to reveal a release of the secretary's entire health records.

And it is important to note that statement earlier this morning, it did not give the full story that she was overheated. That story didn't sound right at the time.

Yes, it was a warm, muggy, hot morning in New York, and yes, she may have been overdressed. When you looked at her she had a jacket and she was dressed more for a fall day. But the reality here is that the Clinton campaign has not been as forthcoming with medical records as has not the Trump campaign.

This is an election cycle that is -- it's important to note here, the American voters have less information about the health and, you know, really what's going on health wise with either candidate than in any recent presidential election. And it's also the election where both of the nominees are the oldest that they've ever been. Whoever ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Right. Why do you ...

ZELENY: ... here will be the oldest candidate sworn into office here, so it's really interesting that the moment her e, I think, for the Clinton campaign to possibly release records if they decide to. Donald Trump certainly as we know does not. Clinton has released more than Trump. Her letter from her doctor was longer. We have not seen the records we have in other years.

HARLOW: All right, Jeff, I want more from you on that point. I got to get a quick break in here, but stay with me.

On our "Breaking News", Hillary Clinton again diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday; just learning about it now after she left that 9/11 service early this morning and stumbling getting into the van. Much more straight ahead. Stay with us.

(OMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN "Breaking News".

HARLOW: I'm Poppy Harlow. Breaking news this hour, we begin with an update on Hillary Clinton's health, her personal doctor just issuing a statement moments ago noting that Hillary Clinton on Friday was diagnosed with pneumonia.

We also learned in the past few moments that according to a senior campaign adviser that the Clinton's upcoming trip to California now in the air, she was supposed to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow.

This, after Clinton left the 9/11 remembrance ceremony here in New York early this morning, two Law Enforcement sources do tell CNN it appears that the candidate fainted. The campaign, I should note, is nothing, that they are simply saying that she was overheated and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies on Friday. During that follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. This is all from her doctor, Dr. Lisa Bardack.

She was then put on antibiotics and advised to rest and modify her schedule.