Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) brushed off claims that his presidential campaign wasn’t being transparent when the presidential hopeful was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack.
“That’s nonsense,” Sanders, 78, said of the criticism, according to NBC News. “I don’t know what people think campaigns are. You know we’re dealing with all kinds of doctors, and we wanted to have a sense of what the hell was going on, really.”
Sanders said his campaign acted “absolutely appropriately” by not rushing to alert the media after he was hospitalized.
“So the first thing that we’re trying to do is understand what’s going on and not run to The New York Times and have to report every 15 minutes,” he told reporters Tuesday. “You know, this is not a baseball game. So I think we acted absolutely appropriately.”
When the Sanders campaign announced that the senator was hospitalized last week, they didn’t specify Sanders’ exact condition. The campaign noted only that Sanders had “experienced some chest discomfort” and underwent an emergency heart procedure for a blocked artery.
Two and a half days later, Sanders was released from the hospital. At that time, his campaign issued a statement in which his doctors revealed he had a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.
The episode has thrust Sanders’ health into the spotlight as one of the oldest candidates running for president. Critics have raised questions about whether he should campaign aggressively, but his staffers remain energized to move forward.
Before his heart attack, the senator promised to release his medical records before the Democratic primaries begin. He told reporters Wednesday that he would release those records “at the appropriate time,” according to Politico.
Sanders also said he had no intention of slowing down his campaign.
“We’re going to get back into the groove of a very vigorous campaign,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I love doing rallies, and I love doing town meetings.”