Bernie Sanders returned to the Democratic debate stage on Tuesday night two weeks after a heart attack and the Oct. 5 death of his daughter-in-law, Rainè Riggs.
The Vermont senator, 78, appeared alongside 11 other presidential candidates at the debate, hosted by The New York Times and CNN. Despite some questions about his stamina and recovery, Sanders seemed characteristically acute and did not mince words on the issues.
“In my judgment, Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of this country,” he said early in the debate when discussing impeachment.
His aides confirmed in recent days that he would attend the debate after taking a brief break from campaigning following his heart attack.
On Oct. 1, he was admitted to a Nevada hospital and had two stents inserted following what his campaign initially said was chest pain — but later acknowledged was a heart attack while on the campaign trail.
“I want to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff at the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center for the excellent care that they provided,” Sanders said in a statement on Twitter on Oct. 4. “After two and a half days in the hospital, I feel great, and after taking a short time off, I look forward to getting back to work.”
RELATED: Bernie Sanders Denies His Campaign Hid Heart Attack as He Vows to Continue Presidential Bid
Four days later, while he was still healing, Sanders’ daughter-in-law died at 46 after being diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer just two days earlier, according to her obituary. The family said that Riggs, who was married to Sanders’ son, Levi, had fallen ill three weeks prior, but her condition left doctors “stumped.”
“My sister was a very private person,” Riggs’ sister Renee recently told PEOPLE, “so we are keeping with her wishes and just trying every day to get through this and do the best we can.”
In the obituary, Riggs’ family detailed years of her academic accomplishments in medicine, and called her three children with Levi — Grayson, Ryleigh and Sunnee — her “crowning achievement.”
“Her last words were to tell her children how much she loved them and she was so sorry that she got sick,” her family wrote in her obituary. “Her last moment was spent with her No. 1 cheerleader, her mother, holding her hand and whispering in her ear how much she loved her.”
During an interview on the Today show last Thursday, Sanders insisted that he is “on the way to a full recovery” after his recent health setback and denied that his campaign had hidden news of his heart attack.
“No. That’s nonsense,” he said. “We’re dealing with all kinds of doctors, and we wanted to have a sense of what the hell was going on, really.”
“I had a procedure that hundreds of thousands of people a year have,” Sanders said. “According to the doctors, I’m on the way to a full recovery.”
Following the interview clip, Today co-anchor Craig Melvin told viewers that the politician has promised to “release all of his medical records” at some point and also “plans on participating in next week’s fourth Democratic presidential debate.”
from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/33we6hR
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