Here's How The Story Broke

Clinton waves as she departs daughter's apartment complex

Correspondent Rick Leventhal of Fox News had a law enforcement source who witnessed Clinton's near-collapse.

At 9:37am he tweeted:

BREAKING: law enf source: Hillary Clinton just left 9/11 ceremony w/medical episode, appeared to faint on way into van, helped by security

— RickLeventhalFoxNews (@RickLeventhal) September 11, 2016

He followed up by quoting the source saying Clinton had a "medical episode." Leventhal relied on a single source -- but it was a solid source.

He went on Fox with the news at 10:10am -- before obtaining any comment from the Clinton campaign. Nick Merrill issued a statement shortly after 11am.

Breaking News: Report: Hillary Clinton Leaves 9/11 Memorial Service Early Due To ‘Medical Episode’https://t.co/Y2MgakpG4Z

— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 11, 2016

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is coming under fire for failing to disclose that she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, and for saying she simply got “overheated” at the 9/11 memorial service in New York, when video showed her knees buckling as aides helped her into a waiting van.

Politico reports it wasn’t until shortly after 11:00 a.m. ET Sunday that the campaign put out a terse statement saying that Clinton had “departed to go to her daughter's apartment, and is feeling much better.” There was no explicit acknowledgment that Clinton had left the ceremony earlier than planned, nor any mention of what looked to be a fainting spell.

Clinton herself sought to project that all was well, stepping outside of her Chelsea’s apartment some 45 minutes later. "I'm feeling great, it's a beautiful day in New York," she said, taking a moment to greet a small girl before piling back into the van to head home to Westchester County.

Not until 5:15 p.m. did the campaign revealed that she had in fact been diagnosed with pneumonia and put on antibiotics a day earlier, after what her doctor called a “follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough.”

Frustration with the Clinton campaign’s handling of the incident boiled over among political journalists on Twitter.

• Jonathan Martin, national correspondent for the New York Times, tweeted, “Hillary camp now reveals that her doctor diagnosed her pneumonia on Friday & put her on antibiotics. Only disclosed after this am's episode.”
• “I don't understand why Clinton aides weren't telling reporters at 10:30am: ‘pneumonia,’” CNN media reporter Brian Stelter wrote.
• “Of course they should have disclosed this. This isn't a cold,” added Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The campaign ignored requests for explanation, but its allies defended its actions online.

“#Hillary's health is fine. The hysteria in the media and the attacks about it from #Trump supporters are not,” Democratic PR consultant Hilary Rosen tweeted before Clinton’s pneumonia was disclosed.