Hillary Clinton pneumonia: Campaign vows to be more open about her health as she prepares to return to the trail

Ms Clinton will return to campaign trail by the middle of the week, says spokesman

Hillary Clinton at the 9/11 memorial shortly before details of her illness emerged (AP)

Hillary Clinton's campaign says it will be releasing more medical information about the Democratic presidential nominee in the next few days, its latest attempt to assuage speculation about her health and rebut criticism that it bungled a fainting scare at a 9/11 service on Sunday.

Amateur video footage caught Ms Clinton swooning into the arms of aides as she tried to board a minivan after leaving the Ground Zero service early on Sunday. At the time, aides to the campaign said only that she had left after becoming "overheated". It was hours before a statement from her doctor said the candidate had been diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday.

She was resting at her home in Chappaqua, New York, on Monday after cancelling a two-day swing to California and Nevada which would have seen her attend some high-price fund-raising events and deliver a speech on the economy. She was, however, due to speak to guests at one fund-raiser by video link from the house.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman, insisted in an interview with the MSNBC news channel that the expanded medical records the camapign was preparing to release would show that Ms Clinton has no other health problems. He also revealed for the first time that she would be returning to the campaign trail by the middle of this week.

There was also an acknowledgement from Mr Fallon that it would have been better if the campaign had not been so tardy on Sunday revealing the pneumonia diagnosis but he said at the time it was felt that the news shuld come from Ms Clinton's personal physician and not until after she had examined her at the Chappaqua residence later in the afternoon.

“I think that in retrospect, we could have handled it better in terms of providing more information more quickly,” Mr Fallon conceded, agreeing that there was a period of about 90 minutes after the video hit social media showing her slumping on the street before the campaign offered any information. "We were putting a priority on making sure she was OK," he offered.

Earlier on Monday Donald Trump promised to release the results of his own medical check-up later in the week. He was remaining more or less circumspect on Monday about Ms Clinton's health scare even though over recent weeks he has sought to stir speculation about her not having the "strenght or stamina" to be president, a clear effort to have voters question whether there was something wrong with the Democratic nominee that they hadn't been told about.

Trump excoriated Clinton for her 'basketful of deplorables' remark at National Guard Association on Monday (AP)

At a speech to a National Guard associaton in Baltimore on Monday, Mr Trump instead went after Ms Clinton for comments she made at a New York fundraiser on Friday night when she said that half of his supporters belonged in a "basketful of deplorables" because they were xenophones and homophobes among other slurs.

"Hillary Clinton spoke with hatred and derision for the people who make this country run," he railed. "She spoke with contempt for the people who thanklessly follow the rules, pay their taxes, and scratch out a living for their families. While Hillary Clinton lives a sequestered life behind gates and walls and guards, she mocks and demeans hardworking Americans who only want their own families to enjoy a fraction of the security enjoyed by our politicians. After months of hiding from the press, Hillary Clinton has revealed her true thoughts."

It could be that once all the dust has settled over Ms Clinton's brush with pneumonia that those comments will prove far more damaging to her campaign than anything else. They are already being likened in many quarters to the gaffe committed by Mitt Romney when he was the Republican nominee in 2012 suggesting that 47 per cent of American's were spongers of government assitance and would therfore never vote Republican anyway.