Sanders Campaign Says They Will Release a Doctor's Note

ByMARYALICE PARKS ABCNews logo
Sunday, January 17, 2016

CHARLESTON, South Carolina -- Bernie Sanders' campaign says they will release a doctor's note affirming that the 74-year-old Vermont senator is in good health.

The move comes after a Politico report saying the head of a super PAC that works in direct coordination with Hillary Clinton's campaign will call on Sanders to release his medical records. The super PAC has since called the report "false."

"Yeah, of course," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told ABC News. "Look he's been in the Congress. He has a regular doctor. We'll just get you the doctor's note."

"The guy's in great health," Weaver added.

Michael Briggs, Sander's communications director told ABC News in statement that the campaign planned "all along" to release medical information from his physician before the primaries and caucuses.

On Saturday, Politico reported that David Brock, the founder and head of the Correct the Record PAC, would call on Sanders to release medical records before the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1. Over the summer, Clinton, 68, released a health statement from her doctor saying that she is in "excellent physical condition and fit to serve as President of the United States."

The Sanders campaign did not miss a beat in responding. They immediately sent a fundraising email to supporters calling the move "the most desperate and vile attacks imaginable."

Following their response, Correct the Record released a statement from David Brock denying the report.

"There are false media reports circulating saying Correct The Record is planning on running ads on the issue. Again we are not planning an attack on this and have not even discussed it internally," Brock said.

The Clinton campaign also distanced itself from the attack. Campaign chair John Podesta tweeted at Brock to "chill out."

"We're fighting on who would make a better President, not on who has a better Physical Fitness Test," Podesta wrote.

The back-and-forth comes two weeks before the Iowa caucus where the latest polls show the two candidates neck-and-neck, and after a week of increased attacks by the Clinton campaign against the Vermont senator.

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