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Walter Mondale was released from the Mayo Clinic on Saturday

The former vice president, 87, was treated for cold and flu symptoms

CNN  — 

Former Vice President Walter Mondale was released from the hospital Saturday after being admitted with influenza.

“He’s doing well. We treated him for flu and cold symptoms, and he was released,” said Kelley Luckstein, a spokeswoman for Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Mondale, 87, was diagnosed after he went to the hospital for a routine checkup following a fever, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday.

“He is in the bed right this moment, but looking forward to come back home,” Carter said during a speech at a Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis.

“He said tell everybody he is doing well.”

The 42nd vice president served under Carter between 1977 and 1981, and later ran for President, but lost to Ronald Reagan. But not before he made history by naming a woman, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York, as his running mate.

Before that, the former lawyer was a U.S. senator from Minnesota.

His wife, Joan Mondale, died last year.