Sanders fundraises off ‘desperate’ medical records attack

by Peter Sullivan - 01/16/16 7:20 PM ET

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders’ campaign is fundraising off a report that an ally of rival Hillary Clinton plans to demand Sanders release his medical records.

“With just two weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses, the super PAC coordinating with Hillary Clinton’s campaign is reportedly launching one of the most desperate and vile attacks imaginable: they are insinuating Bernie is too old and unhealthy to be our next president,” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver wrote in a fundraising email Saturday.

{mosads}The email is in response to a report in Politico saying that David Brock, founder of the Clinton-aligned Correct the Record PAC, plans to call on Sanders to release his medical records.

Politico reported that the call will be combined with continued criticisms of Sanders’s support of single-payer healthcare, which Clinton’s campaign says would require raising taxes on the middle class in order to fund.

“Let me be very clear with you: Bernie is in excellent health,” Weaver wrote of Sanders, who is 74. “But this personal attack is another example of a sickness in our democracy when it is so easy for millionaires and billionaires to buy up candidates and elections.

“We are just three points behind in Iowa, but closing every day,” he added. “We can’t let super PAC attacks on Bernie’s health and health care plan scare people away from voting for Bernie.”

John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign, slammed Brock on Saturday evening, telling him to “chill out.”

“We’re fighting on who would make a better President, not on who has a better Physical Fitness Test,” Podesta tweeted.

.@davidbrockdc: Chill out. We're fighting on who would make a better President, not on who has a better Physical Fitness Test.

— John Podesta (@johnpodesta) January 17, 2016