President Obama questions Trump's 'fitness for office' in boost for Clinton as she recovers from pneumonia

Campaign boost: President Obama pledged his support for Mrs Clinton
AP
By Michael Howie14 September 2016
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Barack Obama ripped into Donald Trump in a bid to boost White House nominee Hillary Clinton as she recovers from pneumonia.

The President used his first solo campaign appearance last night to openly question the Republican’s fitness for office.

“You want to debate who’s more fit to be president? One candidate has travelled to more countries than any other secretary of state has. Has more qualifications than any candidate in history.

"And the other who isn’t fit in any way shape or form to represent this country abroad or to be its commander in chief,” Mr Obama said at campaign rally in Philadelphia.

Not fit: Obama questioned Trump's ability to represent the country overseas 
EPA

He dismissed questions about Clinton’s transparency, which arose after she kept quiet her pneumonia diagnosis for several days.

Instead, he attacked Mr Trump’s decision to withhold his tax returns, a historic break from precedent.

The event was a return to the rollicking campaign rallies that thrust him into the White House eight years ago, and won him reelection in 2012.

He exclaimed to a cheering crowd it was “good to be back on the campaign trail”.

“This is not me just going through the motions here. I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton.”

Mrs Clinton is set to return to the campaign trail tomorrow after recovering at home.

Reconvering well: Clinton left ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the September 11 attacks becoming "overheated"
REUTERS

Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill said the Democratic nominee would resume normal campaign activities later this week.

Mrs Clinton is scheduled to address the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute dinner in Washington tomorrow night and appear on The Tonight Show on Friday.

Mr Merrill said the Democratic nominee spent yesterday reading briefing material, calling aides - and watching Mr Obama on TV.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in