Two Old Jews Argue Over Whose Arteries Are Worse
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg Image by Getty/Forward Montage
By Aiden Pink February 19, 2020
The campaigns of Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg traded jabs Wednesday over each other’s health history.
After his heart attack in October, Sanders, 78, promised “full disclosure” about his medical status. But while the campaign has released letters from doctors assessing that he was fit to campaign again, he has yet to release results of a full medical workup.
When asked by CNN on Wednesday whether Sanders would release such a document, spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray said that such questions were a “smear.” She also claimed that Bloomberg, who is the same age as Sanders, had “suffered heart attacks in the past” but hadn’t come under the same scrutiny.
Bloomberg’s doctor revealed in a medical report in December that the former mayor had a stent inserted in 2000 to alleviate a blocked artery and takes blood thinners for an irregular heartbeat. However, there is no record of Bloomberg having had a heart attack, let alone multiple ones.
Bloomberg campaign manager Kevin Sheekey said Gray’s claim of multiple heart attacks was “an absolute lie.” Gray later backtracked, writing on Twitter that she “misspoke” and that Bloomberg “underwent the same stent procedure as Bernie.” Sanders received two stents following his heart attack.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
