Clinton’s coughing fit lasted for over four minutes and wrecked her voice as she struggled to complete her speech. Later on Monday during a press gaggle on board her new campaign plane, another coughing fit forced Clinton to break off the mini-press conference and walk back to her cabin. Clinton returned several minutes later to take more questions after her cough subsided.
The article included two mentions, one by Clinton during her speech and another by aides afterward, that blamed the coughing fit on allergies. The article also accurately reported Clinton has had bouts of coughing during the campaign.
What followed in response was textbook press intimidation by Democratic party operatives that tried to publicly shame, bully and ‘other’ NBC and Rafferty to stop them and fellow reporters and news outlets from pursuing stories on Clinton’s health.
Clinton traveling pres secretary Nick Merrill went after Rafferty in a personal snark on Twitter late Monday night.
Merrill attacked Rafferty in the context of a tweet by MSNBC analyst Jonathan Alter that criticized the NBC report.
Hillary Clinton Fights Back Coughing Attack https://t.co/bYmoi7hSxD via @nbcnews I love my colleagues at NBC but this ain't news.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama called on NBC to apologize for reporting on Clinton’s coughing fit.
Pfeiffer keyed off a tweet by New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik that sharply criticized the NBC report.
Former Chief Speechwriter for President Obama Jon Favreau tried to shame NBC by calling the article indefensible.
Favreau followed up his attack on NBC with a mocking tweet based a Drudge Report pick up of an article noting Clinton was handed a ‘special glass of water’ during a coughing fit while she already held a bottled water.
What also peeved FishbowlDC was the Drudge Report lead all day Tuesday.
Videos of Clinton’s coughing fits from Monday.
Press gaggle on Hill Force One.