NEW YORK CITY — Hillary Clinton's pneumonia and concerns about her overall health are being blown out of proportion, said Mayor Bill de Blasio who has known the Democratic presidential nominee for more than a decade.
De Blasio, who managed Clinton's 2000 run for the U.S. Senate, said she likes to push herself and has an "incredible" work ethic and "stunning" stamina.
"I think what's happened here, and I remember this from when I had the honor of being her campaign manager 16 years ago, is she's a workaholic," said de Blasio Monday at a press conference.
"I think most people, they're diagnosed a few days earlier with pneumonia, would have said: "Ok, I'm going to cut back my schedule, take a few days off," and that's just not Hillary Clinton and I admire that about her."
De Blasio was with Clinton at Sunday's 9/11 ceremony and spoke with her before she abruptly departed the ceremony because she felt overheated.
"I talked to her for a while. She looked maybe a little tired but nothing different than usual and we had a fine conversation and she was conversing with many other people as per usual," said de Blasio.
"Everyone brought up a different issue and she had something to say on each conversation."
Video captured after Clinton, 68, left the ceremony showed her unable to stand on her own and being dragged a few feet to her van by Secret Service staff.
The mayor said the furor that arose after that video surfaced is the work of conspiracy theorists.
"There's a bunch of conspiracy theorists trying to push the idea that there's a health problem— there's no proof of that whatsoever," said de Blasio.
"And if we're really going to have a conversation about health then it should be a level playing field. Trump should disclose just as much as she has and that hasn't happened."
Clinton went to her daughter Chelsea's Manhattan apartment for a few hours where she was seen by a doctor. After the video was made public, the campaign announced that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia a few days before 9/11.
Clinton has been criticized for not disclosing the pneumonia diagnosis beforehand. On Monday, Clinton told CNN's Anderson Cooper that she didn't faint but "felt dizzy" and did lose her balance "for a minute."
On Twitter, Clinton said she was at home, resting.
"Thanks to everyone who’s reached out with well wishes! I’m feeling fine and getting better," Clinton said in another tweet signed with an "H," that denotes that she wrote it herself.
Supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, 70, have used the incident to raise questions about Clinton's health. Trump wished Clinton well and said he would release another round of his own health test results this week.
De Blasio said questions about Clinton's health are nonsense, especially since she released a report from her doctor.
Trump's report was not as detailed. It included a much-ridiculed statement from Trump's doctor that he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
De Blasio said he'd like to know how Trump's doctor could make that assessment.
"I'm very interested if his doctor treated the previous 40-something presidents to be able to make that judgment. His doctor was a close personal friend of George Washington?" the mayor said.