Hillary Clinton Cancels Event After Bizarre Eye Movements-Reported as Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Hillary Clinton was forced to cancel a campaign event after a video showed her making lizard-like “bizarre eye movements” that prove she’s suffering the lingering effects of head trauma.
The Truth:
Like many other claims about Hillary Clinton’s health during the 2016 election, rumors that Clinton canceled a campaign event after exhibiting “bizarre eye movements” are unfounded.
The rumor started with a video that was posted to a YouTube channel dedicated to Clinton conspiracy theories on September 22nd. The video shows a slow-motion close-up of Clinton’s eyes while she spoke at an event in Philadelphia on September 19th, and a caption states:
Hillary Clinton began to exhibit bizarre eye movement and strabismus (crossed eyes) during her speech in Philadelphia yesterday before unexpectedly canceling today’s scheduled events.
It’s true that Clinton postponed a fundraising lunch planned in North Carolina a day after her speech in Philadelphia — but no reason was given by Clinton’s campaign, CBS affiliate WNCN reports:
Meanwhile, Clinton campaign officials said Monday afternoon that a Tuesday fundraiser in Chapel Hill was postponed.
The Clinton event was billed as “lunch with Hillary Rodham Clinton” and had four donation levels to attend.
Those contribution levels were described as $100,000, which featured “chair reception with Hillary,” $33,000, which included a “host reception with Hillary,” $5,000, which included “preferred seating” and $2,700.
No reason was given for postponement of the Clinton event, which was planned to take place at the home of Betty Craven and Michael Warner.
The notion that Clinton suffers from strabismus dates back to a head injury she suffered in a December 2012 fall. Bill Clinton was quoted as saying the injury “required six months of very serious work to get over” back in 2014.
Clinton’s political opponents, including Karl Rove, argued that there were long-term effects of the head injury that could affect her judgment and ability to serve as president (Rove later backed off from those claims, but they still persist today).
The American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Stabismus reports that stroke is the leading cause of strabismus in adults, but it can also be the result of brain damage that impairs eye control or damage to nerves that control the eyes.
However, Clinton doesn’t appear to exhibit strabismus in the viral YouTube video. The video does not appear to show horizontal strabismus (cross eyes) or vertical strabismus (a lazy eye) — which are the two main types. Rather, the video is extremely zoomed in and plays in slow motion so it looks strange when Clinton looks from side to side while she talks. A full video of the speech can be viewed here, and Clinton’s eyes don’t look unusual when it’s played in real time.
It’s not clear why Clinton canceled her North Carolina fundraiser, but video of her at the rally in Philadelphia doesn’t appear to match strabismus. That’s why we’re reporting this one as fiction.