Perez: Brazile claims about Clinton’s health ‘without merit’

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez in a Sunday show interview questioned the claims in a forthcoming book by former DNC interim chairwoman Donna Brazile, calling one surrounding Hillary Clinton’s health “without merit.”

“I don’t know what Donna Brazile fell for, but all I know is under the rules and bylaws of the Democratic National Committee, she couldn’t have done this,” Perez told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to a report that said Brazile considered replacing Clinton with former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Washington Post on Saturday reported that Brazile’s forthcoming book, “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns that Put Donald Trump in the White House,” includes concerns the former chairwoman had about Clinton’s health.

{mosads}But Perez during the interview on “Meet the Press” said Clinton was “tireless” and “a workhorse” during the campaign.

“Hillary Clinton was anything but incapacitated. She was tireless. She was a workhorse and frankly what saddens me about this as much as anything is I think people who read that charge, which is just without merit, are going to perhaps start wondering about other claims in the book,” Perez said.

In an excerpt from her book published in Politico, Brazile described an agreement she discovered between Clinton’s campaign, the DNC, and the joint fundraising committee that said the campaign would “control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised.” 

“The funding arrangement with HFA and the victory fund agreement was not illegal, but it sure looked unethical,” Brazile wrote.

“If the fight had been fair, one campaign would not have control of the party before the voters had decided which one they wanted to lead.”

The explosive revelation has renewed criticism from supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.

Former Clinton staffers have pushed back on the revelations detailed in Brazile’s book, saying they “do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book.”