Trump campaign demands CNN fire commentator for claiming the president had a stroke

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump's campaign put out a statement demanding that CNN fire Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary for Bill Clinton and network commentator, for suggesting that the president had been rushed to Walter Reed to treat a stroke.

"CNN should fire Joe Lockhart, a lifetime failure who thought it was a great idea for fellow loser Michael Dukakis to put on that stupid helmet, for knowingly pushing a conspiracy theory about President Trump's health," said the statement. "If another CNN employee said similar things about Barack Obama they'd be fired immediately, so the same standard should be applied here. That is, of course, unless CNN is complicit in the smear campaign in order to level the playing field against Joe Biden, somebody who truly has lost a step."

In an upcoming book, New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt is expected to reveal that the November 2019 Walter Reed visit, which the administration claimed was just the first part of a routine physical, was to treat a "cerebral event" and that Vice President Mike Pence was on standby during the health scare. The president has vehemently denied the idea that he has suffered a series of "mini-strokes."

Read the full statement below: