According to a New York Post report, Rove suggested multiple times during the conference Clinton may have suffered a "traumatic brain injury" when she was hospitalized in 2012 for a blood clot¹ caused by a concussion²（冲击，震荡） she suffered in a fall.

 

Though Clinton's team refuted Rove's remarks in the Post's story, spokesman Nick Merrill went further Tuesday afternoon in a statement provided to Business Insider. Merrill said Rove's behavior was "its own form of sickness" and an attempt to make a false political issue out of Clinton's health. "From the moment this happened seventeen months ago, the Right has politicized her health," Merrill said in the statement. "First they accused her of faking it, now they've resorted to the other extreme - and are flat out lying. Even this morning, Karl Rove is still all over the map and is continuing to get the facts wrong. But he doesn't care, because all he wants to do is inject the issue into the echo chamber³, and he's succeeding. It's flagrant（不能容忍的） and thinly veiled."

 

Merrill also suggested Rove and other conservatives are afraid of Clinton.

 

"They are scared of what she has achieved and what she has to offer. What he’s doing is its own form of sickness," Merill said.

 

Merrill also repeated the Clinton camp's initial response to the Post story, which was that her physical condition is "100%, period."

 

"Time for them to move on to their next desperate attack," he said.

 

Rove backtracked slightly on his reported comments Tuesday during an appearance on Fox News. However, he said her health will be a concern in a potential 2016 run for president "whether she likes it or not."

 

"I didn't say she had brain damage," Rove said. "My point was, is that Hillary Clinton wants to run for president, but she would not be human if this didn't enter in as a consideration. And my other point is, this will be an issue in the 2016 race, whether she likes it or not."

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