(Adds event Clinton came to California to attend, paragraph 15)
By Lisa Richwine and Sharon Bernstein
ORANGE, Calif., Oct 15 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President
Bill Clinton's health is improving but he will remain in a
California hospital for at least another night to receive
antibiotics intravenously for a urological infection that spread
to his bloodstream, his spokesperson said on Friday.
The 75-year-old Clinton, who served as president from 1993
to 2001, entered the University of California Irvine Medical
Center on Tuesday evening after suffering from fatigue. He spoke
with President Joe Biden on Friday.
The former president's spokesperson Angel Urena said that
Clinton's white blood count has decreased, indicating his health
is improving.
"All health indicators are trending in the right direction,
including his white blood count which was decreased
significantly," Urena said on Twitter. "In order to receive
further IV antibiotics, he will remain in the hospital
overnight."
Since his admission to the intensive care unit at the
hospital, Clinton has received fluids along with antibiotics,
his doctors said.
His wife, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, was at the hospital on
Thursday and Friday, and the two read books and talked about
politics, Urena told Reuters.
It remained unclear when Clinton would be released.
Biden said Clinton would likely go home soon, though it was
not clear whether he would be released on Saturday or later.
"He is getting out shortly. ... Whether that's tomorrow or
the next day, I don't know," Biden told reporters in
Connecticut. "He's doing fine. He really is."
On Thursday, Urena said Clinton was "up and about, joking
and charming the hospital staff."
Clinton, who was in California to attend a dinner and
reception for his foundation in Los Angeles County, has dealt
with health problems in the past, including a 2004 quadruple
bypass surgery and a 2010 procedure to open a blocked artery.
The Democrat served two terms in the White House, overseeing
strong economic growth while engaging in bruising political
battles with congressional Republicans.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives impeached
him in 1998 on charges arising from his sexual relationship with
White House intern Monica Lewinsky, but Clinton was acquitted by
the Senate. He was only the second U.S. president to be
impeached. Donald Trump would later become the third when he was
impeached twice during his term.
Clinton, a former Arkansas governor, has combined a folksy
charm with deep knowledge of policy issues. He defeated an
incumbent president, Republican George H.W. Bush, in 1992 and
then beat longtime Republican Senator Bob Dole to win
re-election in 1996.
Since leaving office, he has become a cheerleader for his
wife, who was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York in 2000.
She unsuccessfully sought the 2008 Democratic presidential
nomination and then won the party's nod in 2016, when she
eventually lost to Trump despite winning the national popular
vote.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Orange, California, and Sharon
Bernstein in Sacramento, California; Additional reporting by Dan
Whitcomb, Brad Brooks, Timothy Ahmann and Kanishka Singh;
Writing by Joseph Ax and Sharon Bernstein
Editing by Alistair Bell and Will Dunham)
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