Biden sends ‘best wishes’ to Clinton following hospitalization

President Biden spoke with former President Clinton on Friday, after the latter was hospitalized due to an infection not related to COVID-19.

Biden also briefly addressed Clinton’s hospitalization during a stop in Hartford, Conn., to promote his economic agenda, before their phone call. 

“He seems to be, God willing, doing well,” Biden said at the end of a speech. “When I talk to him, I’ll let you all know.”

News broke late Thursday that Clinton, 75, had been hospitalized at the University of California Irvine Medical Center’s intensive care unit. A Clinton spokesman said the former president’s infection was not related to COVID-19 and described him as “in good spirits” and “on the mend.”

“President Clinton was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center and diagnosed with an infection. He was admitted to the hospital for close monitoring and administered IV antibiotics and fluids. He remains at the hospital for continuous monitoring,” Clinton’s physicians Alpesh Amin and Lisa Bardack said in a joint statement.

“After two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well,” they said. “The California-based medical team has been in constant communication with the President’s New York-based medical team, including his cardiologist. We hope to have him go home soon.”

Clinton has a history of heart problems and underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2004. His hospitalization was not said to be heart-related.

Biden last saw Clinton when they participated in a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 in New York last month.

Updated at 4:24 p.m.