The moment Hillary Clinton collapses as she is helped into her van after being rushed from 9/11 memorial - but her aides try to explain it away as 'overheating'

Video has surfaced of Hillary Clinton appearing to collapse as she was led into a van after suffering a 'medical episode' during the 9/11 memorial service.

The Democratic presidential candidate is seen standing on a curb near the World Trade Center when she suddenly appeared unable to stand.

She seems to nearly fall to the ground before she is caught by her aides, who hold her up. Her security detail then had to help her into the van by grabbing each of her arms.

The former Secretary of State then appears to fall forward toward the door of the van before being bundled inside. 

She appears to lose a shoe under the vehicle in the struggle before being driven to daughter Chelsea's apartment in Manhattan.

Despite the concerning footage, she emerged from the home at 11:45am on Sunday saying she was fine. She told waiting reporters: 'I'm feeling great, it's a beautiful day in New York.' 

A smiling Clinton was then greeted by a young girl on the street to pose for a picture. She waved  at customers at a nearby restaurant before getting into a van.

Clinton then traveled to her home in Chappaqua, New York, according to her campaign. 

It is not known whether she saw a doctor.

Nick Merrill, her traveling press secretary, said Clinton 'overheated' during the ceremony, but quickly recovered.  

She recently said she had been suffering from allergy attacks since Labor Day and had upped her antihistamine dosage. 

Clinton suffered two coughing fits this week while on the campaign trail, one while she was speaking publicly in Ohio on Monday and another while she was taking questions from reporters.

Dailymail.com had asked Clinton about her health Thursday pointing to notes released by the FBI as part of the bureau's email investigation that suggested Clinton may have suffered memory loss from the concussion she sustained in 2012. 

'Can you clarify what you told the FBI about your concussion?' Dailymail.com had asked the candidate, to which Clinton replied curtly, 'read the reports,' offering no additional explanation.

Video has surfaced of Hillary Clinton appearing to stumble as she was led into a van after suffering a 'medical episode' during the 9/11 memorial service

The presidential candidate is seen standing on a curb near the World Trade Center when she appeared to lose her balance

The concerning footage shows her knees appearing to buckle, causing her to fall towards two of her handlers. They then steady her on the sidewalk 

Her aides then rushed to her side and then helped her into the van before she was rushed off to Chelsea's Manhattan home 

Clinton emerged from her daughter Chelsea's apartment after she was rushed from the 9/11 memorial service because of a 'medical episode'

Despite the concerning footage, she emerged from the home at 11:45 on Sunday saying she was fine

Today, shortly after 9:30am, the pool reporter covering Clinton at the World Trade Center notified the rest of the press that the Democrat had disappeared from the event with no notice from the campaign. 

She had spent about 90 minutes at the memorial. 

It wasn't until 11am that reporters were told where Clinton went and what had happened, though Fox News had already reported that Clinton had suffered from a 'medical episode.' 

Trump said he had 'no idea' what happened when asked about his rival's health after the ceremony.

Trump's campaign did not respond to a request for additional comment from Dailymail.com.  

Merrill said in a statement: 'Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremony for just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respects and greet some of the families of the fallen.

'During the ceremony, she felt overheated so departed to go to her daughter's apartment, and is feeling much better.'

Clinton's press team later updated the statement to remove the word 'just,' stating it was a 'typo.' 

Eyewitnesses said that Clinton had to wait a couple of minutes for her motorcade as it wasn't waiting for her when she exited the event. 

Fox News reporter Rick Levanthal, who broke the initial story, quoted one person who was standing 15ft away from Clinton who saw her stumble off the curb. 

Her 'knees buckled,' Levanthal tweeted, as she lost a shoe during this 'unexpected early departure.'  

She told waiting reporters: 'I'm feeling great, it's a beautiful day in New York'.

Clinton was taken from the 9/11 memorial site at 9:30am on Sunday, just 90 minutes after arriving to remember the 2,977 people who lost their lives 

The Democratic presidential candidate was standing alongside rival Donald Trump and other politicians when she apparently fainted, according to reports

One of Clinton's handlers is seen with his arm across her shoulders. She is seen with her arm resting on his back as she leaves the ceremony 

Her campaign team said she 'overheated' during the ceremony. It was around 80 degrees at Ground Zero during the service

Onlookers have also said her symptoms seemed far worse than her aides have suggested

Witnesses said her departure from the service was 'unexpected', but they said it was 'clear' that she had a medical episode 

Her detail retrieved a shoe from underneath the van and helped the former secretary of state inside, according to reports. 

The temperature was around 80 degrees at Ground Zero during the service. There was a humidity of 41%.  

Clinton was standing in the middle of a crowd of politicians packed together in a small space.

Clinton's pool reporter wrote that she could not see whether the Democratic hopeful was standing in direct sunlight, though noted that there wasn't a lot of shade in the area where the politicians were gathered. 

Hillary was joined by politicians, including Bill de Blasio, as mourners remembered the 15th anniversary of the attacks 

WHY HILLARY WAS ABLE TO DITCH THE PRESS

Around 9:30am today Hillary Clinton left the 9/11 ceremony in New York City and it wasn't until 11 a.m. that reporters were told why she had left and where she headed, with her campaign saying she felt 'overheated' and was recovering at daughter Chelsea's Manhattan apartment. While a 'pool' of reporters accompanied Clinton to today's service, the Clinton campaign has so far refused to agree to what is called a 'protective pool,' which is how President Obama's movements are covered. The White House and the White House Correspondents Association have agreed to a set of rules that include having reporters travel with the president in motorcades and cover his arrivals and departures from the White House and events. Those rules would have required that the Clinton campaign allow reporters to accompany Clinton to Chelsea's house today while she recovered, though the campaign may have still kept reporters at an arm's distance from the candidate, as she wobbled into her black van. Donald Trump's campaign has also not allowed a protective pool to cover the Republican hopeful. Twice recently the billionaire has ditched his traveling press in another city, while heading elsewhere. The first time, Trump and his running mate Mike Pence headed to Louisiana to survey flood damage. The Trump campaign also sent the press plane ahead to Phoenix, Arizona, while the candidate headed to Mexico to meet with the country's president. Reporters covering Clinton have pressed again and again for a protective pool but had let up in recent days as the candidate started answering more questions from journalists on the campaign trail. No doubt today's events will renew this discussion.

Clinton had already suspended campaigning on Sunday in a show of support for those who died on 9/11 and those who survived the terror attacks.  

Earlier on Sunday she tweeted: 'We'll never forget the horror of September 11, 2001. Today, let's honor the lives and tremendous spirit of the victims and responders.'

Clinton was a senator from New York 15 years ago and did a sit-down interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo about her experience during and after the attacks. 

She recalled being evacuated from the Senate office buildings in Washington, D.C. on 9/11 and then heading to New York City alongside her peer, Sen. Chuck Schumer, on Sept. 12.  

She visited lower Manhattan on Sept. 12, alongside her Senate peer, Sen. Chuck Schumer, describing what she saw on the ground as 'hell.'  

'We saw this curtain of black smoke that was stretched across the island.

'Occasionally it would be broken by a firefighter coming out. I remember one image so indelibly, dragging his ax, and it was as close to a depiction of hell that I have ever personally seen.

She suspended her campaign on Sunday as a mark of respect for those who died

Earlier on Sunday, she was seen wearing sunglasses as she arrived in New York 

Clinton speaks to outgoing NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton (behind her) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (right facing towards her)

Clinton, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (left) attend ceremonies to mark the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks

'There weren't that many survivors; the ones that did survive were grievously injured. The loss of life was overwhelming.

'But it was also my job and the job of other officials to get our city and state and country what we needed,' she said.  

She noted in the CNN interview that she visited New York City before then-President George W. Bush and played up her role in helping the city get federal funding to rebuild and aiding first responders in getting proper medical care after being exposed to the dirty air coming from the burning remains of the Twin Towers.  

Today's health scare, however, will likely bury the effect the CNN interview would have on her poll numbers, which have dipped into being within spitting distance of Trump's in recent days. 

Instead, the fainting spell could lend proof to conspiracy theories that Trump's allies have pushed, which suggest Clinton's health is failing.

It was Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, that brought these theories into the mainstream by saying on Fox News Sunday last month that voters should 'go online and put down "Hillary Clinton's illness." Take a look at the videos for yourself,' the Republican instructed. 

This came a week after Trump himself had told a crowd that Clinton lacked the 'mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS.' 

Clinton's campaign interpreted Trump's words to mean that he was peddling some of the right-wing conspiracy theories going around the internet including that Clinton had suffered a seizure on camera and that she was showing signs of dementia.  

Trump's comment prompted the Clinton campaign to address her health and fitness for the first time since releasing a doctor's note a year before. 

'While it is dismaying to see the Republican nominee for president push deranged conspiracy theories in a foreign policy speech, it's no longer surprising,' Clinton's communications director Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement. 

'Donald Trump is simply parroting lies based on fabricated documents promoted by Roger Stone and his right wing allies,' Palmieri continued.

She then pivoted for a moment to blast Trump for not releasing any of his tax returns to the American public.

'Hillary Clinton has released a detailed medical record showing her to be in excellent health plus her personal tax returns since 1977, while Trump has failed to provide the public with the most basic financial information disclosed by every major candidate in the last 40 years,' she acknowledged.

'It's time for him to stop using shameful distractions to hide his own record,' Palmieri added. 

Clinton's people included a new statement from her physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, who had signed off on the Democrat's health in the beginning months of her campaign last year.

'As Secretary Clinton's long time physician, I released a medical statement during the campaign indicating that she is in excellent health,' Bardack wrote last month. 

'I have recently been made aware of allegedly "leaked" medical documents regarding Secretary Clinton with my name on them. These documents are false, were not written by me and are not based on any medical facts,' she continued.

'To reiterate what I said in my previous statement, Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States,' Bardack said. 

In December 2012, Clinton fainted and suffered a concussion after contracting a stomach virus. She later developed a blood clot. 

She’s been taking the anticoagulation drug, Coumadin, ever since. 

In 2005, she fainted before a scheduled speech in Buffalo, New York after suffering a similar stomach virus. 

Beyond Giuliani and Trump, Clinton's health also became front-and-center when Dr. Drew Pinsky said he was 'gravely concerned not just about her health, but her health care.' 

'It just seems like she’s getting care from somebody that she met in Arkansas when she was a kid, and you’ve got to wonder. You’ve got to wonder,' Pinsky had said. 

Dr. Drew's HLN show was canceled several days after he made the comments with no explanation from the network, leading to speculation that the negative remarks were the cause.