--- title: Karl Rove Publicly Questions Hillary Clinton's Health description: The Republican strategist denies saying that Clinton suffered brain damage after her December 2012 concussion, but says it was a "serious deal" that the Democratic favorite should address if she wants to run for president canonical: https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-13T15:01:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:35.279Z article:section: Politics og:title: Karl Rove publicly questions Hillary Clinton's health og:description: The Republican strategist denies saying that Clinton suffered brain damage after her December 2012 concussion, but says it was a "serious deal" that the Democratic favorite should address if she wants to run for president og:url: https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d957790a0698069/69868f13169ab0d89c279455/karl-rove-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3268 og:image:height: 1838 og:image:alt: Karl Rove Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Karl Rove publicly questions Hillary Clinton's health twitter:description: The Republican strategist denies saying that Clinton suffered brain damage after her December 2012 concussion, but says it was a "serious deal" that the Democratic favorite should address if she wants to run for president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d957790a0698069/69868f13169ab0d89c279455/karl-rove-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Karl Rove Publicly Questions Hillary Clinton's Health > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 13, 2014 3:01 PM UTC  Former cheif of staff, Karl Rove, at the 2013 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo. on June 27, 2013. Former cheif of staff, Karl Rove, at the 2013 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo. on June 27, 2013. Lynn Goldsmith—Corbis by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 13, 2014 3:01 PM UTC Republican strategist Karl Rove publicly questioned Hillary Clinton’s health last week, raising concerns about the damage the mooted 2016 presidential candidate sustained during a [fall in December 2012](http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/31/politics/hillary-clinton-hospitalized/) that doctors say resulted in a blood clot. According to the[ New York _Post’s_ Page Six](http://pagesix.com/2014/05/12/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-may-have-brain-damage/?%5Fga=1.169270434.2098903480.1370040141), Rove insinuated that Clinton suffered from more than a blood clot while onstage at a conference. The _Post_ reported that Rove said, “Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she’s wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what’s up with that.” A Clinton spokesperson told the _Post_ that Rove’s concerns were misplaced: “Please assure Dr. Rove she’s 100 percent. Karl Rove has deceived the country for years, but there are no words for this level of lying.” Rove [appeared](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-remarks-106621.html)on Fox News Tuesday morning to clarify that while he questioned Clinton’s health, he was misquoted. “I didn’t say she had brain damage,” Rove said. “My point was, is that Hillary Clinton wants to run for president, but she would not be human if this didn’t enter in as a consideration. And my other point is, this will be an issue in the 2016 race, whether she likes it or not.” Rove continued, “Look, she had a serious health episode. And I don’t know about you, but if you go through a serious health episode, it causes you to look at life a little bit differently. This was a serious deal.” \[[_Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-remarks-106621.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/"},"headline":"Karl Rove Publicly Questions Hillary Clinton's Health","datePublished":"2014-05-13T15:01:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:35.279Z","description":"The Republican strategist denies saying that Clinton suffered brain damage after her December 2012 concussion, but says it was a \"serious deal\" that the Democratic favorite should address if she wants to run for president","url":"https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","fall","fox news"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d957790a0698069/69868f13169ab0d89c279455/karl-rove-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d957790a0698069/69868f13169ab0d89c279455/karl-rove-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Karl Rove Hillary Clinton","caption":"Karl Rove Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Lynn Goldsmith—Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/97489/karl-rove-hillary-clinton-health/","name":"Karl Rove Publicly Questions Hillary Clinton's Health"}}]}] ```