Former President Bill Clinton is home for the holidays following a brief hospital stay in the nation’s capital.
The 42nd president’s Deputy Chief of Staff Angel Ureña said Monday that the 78-year-old Democrat was under observation at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital where he was running a fever and undergoing testing. Ureña posted an update late Tuesday morning indicating all was well.
“President Clinton was discharged earlier today after being treated for the flu,” he wrote.
According to Ureña, Clinton’s family is grateful for hospital workers’ efforts and the support he received from the public.
“He sends his warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to all,” the longtime Clinton associate added.
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton prepared for the holidays by posting a photo of a Christmas tree the couple kept in the White House in 1994.
The Clintons enjoyed eight holiday seasons as the nation’s First Family after the former Arkansas governor began the first of his two terms as president in 1993. They nearly returned when Hillary Clinton ran for president in 2016 when she won the popular vote against Donald Trump, but lost in the Electoral College.
Clinton’s post-presidency came with health scares that he addressed in part through changing his diet. He was famously filmed jogging to an Arkansas McDonald’s while running for office in 1992, then being driven away in the back of a Cadillac after exiting the eatery. But Clinton told AARP in 2013 he slimmed down by 30 lbs. after cutting meat, cheese and dairy from his diet.
The ex-president underwent a quadruple bypass surgery in 2004. That was followed by a 2010 visit to New York-Presbyterian Hospital where he had a pair of stents inserted during an emergency visit.
Clinton released a memoir last month called “Citizen: My Life After the White House.” While promoting that book, he was asked by CBS News if the U.S. would see a female president in his lifetime.
“Well, I don’t know how long I’m gonna’ live,” he said with a laugh. “You’re asking an old man that question!”
