The no-transparency election

Hillary Clinton is under fire for waiting until she nearly collapsed at a public event Sunday to disclose she was diagnosed Friday with pneumonia. She hasn’t provided a full accounting of her health, though Donald Trump has revealed far less. The Republican nominee is departing with decades of tradition by not releasing his tax returns, which could provide key details about his investments and financial interests. And both candidates have declined traveling with a “protective pool” of reporters that follow them to provide continuous coverage of their activities.

In other words, Trump and Clinton have less than two months to close the sale, but most voters aren’t sure exactly what they’re buying.

Few candidates relish throwing open their most intimate health and financial secrets. But the issue is particularly acute this year given Trump’s decades of business dealings. And, of course, Trump, 70, and Clinton, 68, would be the oldest and second oldest presidents inaugurated for a first term in a job that comes with intense physical and mental demands — making their health a highly relevant issue.

Clinton’s campaign promised to do better going forward and is planning to offer more details about her health later this week.

In political terms, she now has little choice.

“If they keep trying to hide and obfuscate her real condition, it is going to be a big albatross all the way to election day,” said Douglas Brinkley, a historian at Rice University on CNN’s “At This Hour with Berman and Bolduan.”

For her part, Clinton’s physician did issue a health statement last year certifying that she was fit to serve as President. Trump has offered no such information. His only health disclosure was a note from his doctor saying his health was “astonishingly excellent” and that he would be the healthiest person ever elected president.

Neither candidate has approached the level of disclosure that another senior citizen candidate — John McCain — offered in 2008, when the cancer survivor invited select reporters to view over 1,000 pages of health records.

Even if Trump offers more health details, he still risks setting an unprecedented example on financial disclosure for future candidates. The billionaire has steadfastly refused to match Clinton — and previous presidential nominees — by releasing years of tax returns.

‘Nobody cares about it’

“Nobody cares about it except some of the folks in the media. Nobody cares about it,” Trump said in a Fox News interview earlier this month.

Trump has made his record in building a global business a pillar of his argument that he would be able to turn the economy around as President. Yet he has refused to publish tax returns that would allow voters to make their own assessment of his financial health or claims about his income.

Such disclosures would also permit voters and reporters to view Trump’s charitable giving, which he has said has been substantial without providing evidence.

Trump did comply with election laws in May requiring candidates to release a financial statement, which claims a net worth of $10 billion and business interests all over the world. Trump also lists 16 liabilities for which he owes at least $315 million, according to the statement.

But the information does not offer details on the source of Trump’s annual income — information that would more typically be available on a tax return. That’s important for voters to size up whether Trump would face conflicts of interest as President given his vast businesses interests around the globe. Critics have suggested that Trump could be compromised as President if he has heavy exposure to US adversaries like China and Russia.

It’s also possible that Trump’s returns show he paid a very low tax rate if his income comes mainly from capital gains or can be written off against property investments — a factor that could be politically embarrassing.