Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday vowed to complete his term in office, brushing off questions on his health after he froze up in public twice this summer.
“I’ll finish my term as leader and I’ll finish my Senate term,” McConnell told reporters on the U.S. Capitol.
The 81-year-old leader said he had no announcements to make about retiring from the Senate. His current terms ends in January 2027.
On two separate occasions this summer, McConnell briefly froze up and lost the power to talk during press events. Within the second instance on Aug. 30, McConnell was virtually unresponsive for about 30 seconds.
The attending physician for the U.S. Congress said after evaluating McConnell that the senator is capable of perform his duties, and that there was no evidence he suffered a stroke.
McConnell was hospitalized in early March after suffering a concussion from a fall at a hotel during a personal dinner in Washington, D.C.
After reportedly considering forcing a closed-door meeting to debate McConnell’s health, a few of his Republican colleagues have begun to precise their concerns more openly.
“The last freeze-up, it puts a matter in everybody’s mind whether he can do it or not,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
“We want a very good quarterback,” added the previous football coach turned senator.
Sen. Rand Paul, McConnell’s Kentucky colleague who was a practicing ophthalmologist, told reporters Tuesday that he doesn’t think the Capitol physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, gave “a sound medical diagnosis.”
“Everybody has seen the clips,” he said.
But other GOP senators are defending McConnell.
“The truth is that we may expect that Mitch McConnell will take a look at for 20 seconds a day, but the opposite 86,380 seconds within the day, he does a fairly darn good job,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told NBC News on Tuesday.
