Clinton has coughing fit during commencement speech: ‘We’ll blame allergy instead of emotion’

Hillary Clinton suffered a coughing fit while speaking at Wellesley College on Friday, joking she was overcome by emotion as she delivered her alma mater’s commencement speech.

“Just a minute, I gotta get a lozenge,” Clinton said as she coughed. A faculty member on stage handed her a bottle of water.

“I told the trustees I was sitting on stage with after hearing Tala’s speech, I didn’t think I could get through it. So we’ll blame allergy instead of emotion,” Clinton joked.

{mosads}The former secretary of State was referencing student speaker Tala Nashawati, who described her experience as the daughter of Syrian immigrants in her address.

“It’s okay to be queer, trans, and immigrant, a person of color, a faithful believer of any religion,” Nashawati said. “Or like me, the daughter of two Syrian immigrants who worked and worked and worked so I could stand on this stage.”

Clinton, who graduated from the college in 1969, was the first-ever student speaker at Wellesley College.

During her presidential run last year, Clinton occasionally suffered coughing fits during speeches, which opponents including now-President Trump tried to seize on. Trump frequently questioned her health, especially after video surfaced of Clinton being helped into a van while suffering from pneumonia.