Sanders campaign aide slammed for describing calls for his medical records as a 'smear campaign' akin to birtherism

A top campaign aide for the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) came under fire Wednesday for her attempts to defend her boss' refusal to release his medical records amid concerns about his age and health.

When asked whether the American people deserve to know more about Sanders' health going forward during a CNN appearance, Sanders campaign national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray compared the concerns to previous questions posed about other candidates' in the past.

"I think the American people deserve to know exactly as much as every other candidate has released in this race currently and historically," she said. "And what you're seeing right now is really reminiscent of some of the kind of smear, kind of skepticism campaigns that have been run against a lot of different candidates in the past, questioning where there from, their lineage, et cetera."

While vague, Gray's comment appears to be a direct reference to the "birther" theory about former President Barack Obama's birthplace that came up in previous presidential elections. The comparison was quickly trashed on social media, with critics pointing to Sanders' previous pledge to release his medical records (which he has since backtracked on) and the fact that he literally had a heart attack just a few months ago in October.

But that wasn't the only part of what Gray said that generated controversy; she also made a false claim about a rival candidate's medical history.

During her remarks, Gray also tried to shift the subject to Sanders' 2020 rival, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying that "it's really telling that none of the same concern is being demonstrated for Michael Bloomberg, who is the same age as Bernie Sanders, who has suffered heart attacks in the past, and what we're seeing is a kind of, um, smear campaign from the likes of ... republicans who — if they were honest with themselves — don't support Bernie Sanders for other reasons."

However, there are no reports of Bloomberg ever having a heart attack in the past, and the Bloomberg campaign decried the assertion "an absolute lie" in a Wednesday statement.

"The truth is: After a positive stress test in his doctor's office at Johns Hopkins University in 2000, Mike had two coronary stents placed," said campaign manager Kevin Sheekey. "Facts matter. This isn't the way to defeat Donald Trump in November." A letter from Bloomberg's doctor in December also described the past stent placement, but no heart attacks.

Gray later corrected her comments record on Twitter, saying that she "misspoke" about Bloomberg's cardiac history.