Hillary Clinton declined Thursday to answer repeated questions about when her running mate found out that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia.
Her reluctance to answer the question came during a rare press conference. She fielded questions from seven reporters, but one of the questions was a journalist simply repeating of a line of inquiry about whether she spoke with Kaine last week.
Clinton’s campaign said she was diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday, but vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he didn’t find out until they made it public Sunday evening.
On Thursday, Clinton would not say when Kaine found out, and instead provided reporters with evasive non-answers.
One reporter said, “I’m wondering when you informed him. And if you didn’t inform him on Friday, what does that say about what your relationship would be like with him in the White House, how in the know he would be in minutes of developments in your administration?”
Clinton declined to answer, and instead said, “My senior staff knew, and information was provided to a number of people.”
A second reporter, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, kept after the point, but Clinton declined again and would only say she and Kaine communicate.
“I communicated with Tim,” she said. “I talked to him again last night. He has been a great partner and he’s going to be a great vice president.”
“We communicated. We’ve communicated,” she repeated, “but I am not going to go into our personal conversations and I feel very comfortable and confident about our relationship and I really look forward to working with him closely.”
Mitchell said later of the presser that Clinton “was defensive.”
“The fact is she’s still not that open to answering questions,” Mitchell said.
The press conference came after Clinton’s first campaign appearance since she was seen collapsing Sunday afternoon outside of a 9/11 memorial event in New York City.
Clinton’s physician since 2001, Dr. Lisa Bardack, said in a letter Wednesday that she diagnosed the candidate last Friday with “mild non-contagious bacterial pneumonia.
“She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as president of the United States,” the letter read. “[Clinton] is in excellent mental condition.”
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This article has been updated.
