‘Questioning Where They’re From, Aspects of Their Lineage’
The Bernie Sanders campaign is defending his refusal to release his full medical records by accusing voters wanting to see those records of engaging in a form of birtherism.
“What you’re seeing right now is really reminiscent of some of the kind of smear, kind of skepticism campaigns that have been run against a lot of different candidates in the past, questioning where they’re from, aspects of their lineage, etc., etc,” Sanders campaign national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray said in response to a question from CNN’s John Berman Wednesday morning (video below).
On Tuesday night at a CNN town hall Sanders was asked by Anderson Cooper why he had not released his full medical records after promising to do so in September before his heart attack, and again in October, days after his heart attack.
Holding them in his hand Berman had told Gray, “I have those three letters from the doctors that Senator Sanders was talking about, there’s nothing in them, other than the doctors saying that he’s fit.”
“He had a heart attack in the fall. Do you think the American people deserve to know more about his health going forward?” Berman asked.
“I think the American people deserve to know exactly as much as every other candidate has released in this race currently, and historically,” Gray said defensively.
After likening requests for Sanders’ medical records to be released to a type of birtherism, Gray went on to say “it’s really telling given that none of the same concerns are being demonstrated for Michael Bloomberg who’s the same age as Bernie Sanders who’s suffered heart attacks in the past.”
While Bloomberg is also 78, Gray was forced to retract her claim of Bloomberg having “suffered heart attacks,” although she later described her remarks as him having had a heart attack. It does not appear he had.
Bloomberg, as The New York Times reported in 2007, “had surgery to have two stents implanted in a coronary artery because of blockage in his heart” before he became mayor in 2001. The article appeared to suggest he had not previously disclosed the surgery before running for mayor.
Watch: