WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been hospitalized due a blood clot resulting from her fall and concussion earlier this month, the Associated Press reported late Sunday.
Citing Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines, the AP reports that Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she will be monitored for at least the next 48 hours.
Clinton, who is expected to leave her position next year and is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, should she seek it, had been scheduled to return to work this week.
But Clinton's health has been a mystery since before the State Department announced on December 15 this that Clinton was hospitalized following a concussion caused by a fall resultant from dehydration from a stomach virus.
After news of her fall broke on Saturday the 15th, the Washington D.C. political website Politico reported that its reporters had inquired
the preceding Thursday about her health, only have her spokesman downplay the incident. The spokesman, Philippe Reines "said Saturday she was not and never had been hospitalized. Reines did not respond to questions about why Clinton’s fainting was not disclosed sooner," Politico reported at the time.
This Saturday, a conservative blogger, Gateway Pundit, repeated a Dominican news report that the Clintons had been celebrating in the Dominican Republic, and received a furious email from Reines:
Here are the facts: The Clintons are not in the Dominican Republic. The Clintons are not going to the Dominican Republic. I realize that you are linking to and possibly relying on a DomincanToday.com posting, and rest assured we have contacted them as well to point out their deceitful reporting. I’m hoping that you have now been apprised of the facts, and that what you are presenting to your readers is entirely inaccurate and based on nothing even remotely true, we sincerely hope you will do the right thing and take all necessary steps to correct this falsehood. We likely disagree on just about everything, but surely we can agree that posting a lie is far different than posting an opinion.
News of Clinton's blood clot broke Sunday evening.
In 1998 Clinton was diagnosed with a blood clot behind her right knee, she told the New York Daily News in 2007. Clinton was rushed to Bethesda Naval Hospital.
"That was scary because you have to treat it immediately - you don't want to take the risk that it will break lose and travel to your brain, or your heart or your lungs," she recalled. That was the most significant health scare I've ever had."
President Barack Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry to replace Clinton as Secretary of State nine days ago.