Clinton campaign pushes back after David Axelrod bashes its ‘unhealthy penchant for privacy’

After fielding harsh criticism from President Obama’s former chief adviser, a top aide for Hillary Clinton’s campaign admitted that the Democratic nominee’s team could have done a better job communicating that the candidate had been diagnosed with pneumonia.

“We could have done better yesterday,” Jennifer Palmieri, communications director for Clinton’s campaign, tweeted on Monday morning. “But it is a fact that [the] public knows more about HRC than any nominee in history.”

Palmieri was responding to David Axelrod, chief strategist for both of Obama’s presidential campaigns, who blasted the Clinton camp for its lack of transparency.

“Antibiotics can take care of pneumonia,” Axelrod wrote on Twitter. “What’s the cure for an unhealthy penchant for privacy that repeatedly creates unnecessary problems?”

Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 memorial service in Lower Manhattan on Sunday morning. Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill told reporters she felt “overheated” and had recovered at her daughter Chelsea’s nearby apartment.

But a bystander’s video showing Clinton wobbling as she was helped into her van prompted the campaign to release a statement from her personal physician, who said the 68-year-old was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

“She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule,” Dr. Lisa Bardack said in the statement issued later Sunday. “While at this morning’s event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely.”

Donald Trump, who has repeatedly raised questions about Clinton’s health on the campaign trail, declined to attack her when given the chance in two interviews on Monday morning.

“I hope she gets well soon,” the Republican nominee said on “Fox & Friends.” “I just hope she gets well and gets back on the trail and we’ll be seeing her at the debate.”

And Trump told CNBC he takes no “satisfaction” in his opponent’s illness.

“It was quite sad, to be honest with you,” he said. “I hope she gets well soon. No satisfaction, believe me, whatsoever.”

Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, seemed to take a little satisfaction in Axelrod’s takedown of the Clinton campaign.

Axelrod, though, wasn’t having it.