For several weeks now, speculation has been rampant in the US regarding the identity of a large black man who is seen accompanying democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton nearly everywhere she goes.
The thories about his identity and function began to multiply when he hurried onto the stage after animal-rights activists interrupted a Clinton speech in Las Vegas on the 4th of August.
The Clinton campaign said that he was simply one of the Secret Service agents in Hillary’s security detail. Conservative sites, however, refused to accept this explanation, and noted that at the same Las Vegas event, the man tapped Clinton on the shoulder several times and told her “you’re OK, keep talking.”
This is behavior that – experts say – is not at all part of the job description of a bodyguard, who is not supposed to touch his security charge unless it is a life-and-death situation.
Syringe or flashlight?
Last week the man accompanied Clinton when she was forced to cut short a meeting with journalists on her airplane because of a serious coughing fit.
In other footage, he is seen supporting her as she climbs stairs with difficulty. Such incidents gave rise to speculation that this is a man who also functions as Hillary’s doctor.
This, in turn, sparked theories that the black cylindrical object that he carried with him when accompanying her off the stage in Vegas was a syringe containing diazepam, a drug that relieves anxiety.
In the above video produced by right-wing journalist Paul Joseph Watson – who played a central role in promulgating the aforementioned theories – the man’s identity is revealed: he is agent Todd Madison, of the Secret Service after all, who is serving as the head of Clinton’s security detail.
The “diazepam syringe” was a mere flashlight used by Madison to illuminate Clinton’s path through a dark backstage area.
Despite the discrediting of most of the theories regarding the mystery man, questions about Hillary’s health continue to swirl through the air, especially following the intense and public coughing fits that have been covered by the US media, including those outlets that are very much on the side of the Democratic candidate.
