Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Wednesday appeared briefly unable to answer reporters’ questions at a press event, marking the second time in weeks that the Republican leader has abruptly stopped speaking and required help from people around him.
McConnell, 81, initially appeared to struggle to listen to when asked at an event in Covington, Kentucky, about his views on running for reelection.
However the senator then froze on the lectern and didn’t speak for about 30 seconds. He didn’t appear to right away respond when a member of his staff approached him to ask if he had heard the query.
“All right, I’m sorry, you all. We’ll need a minute,” the aide said during that interval.
McConnell then appeared to signal he was able to receive one other query. He was asked about Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who’s running for governor.
After his aide loudly repeated the query into his ear, McConnell said, “I believe the governor’s race goes to be very close,” together with his voice lowering in volume as he finished his reply.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to the media following the weekly policy luncheons on the U.S. Capitol on June 21, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
He brushed off a final query about former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment in Georgia before being led away from the lectern.
McConnell suffered an identical episode July 26 in Washington, D.C., where he froze and was briefly unable to talk at a news conference.
In that case, McConnell’s fellow senators rushed in to assist him, and after a number of minutes he returned to the lectern and continued chatting with reporters.
On the time, McConnell dismissed questions on whether the health scare was in any way connected to a concussion he suffered earlier this 12 months when he fell at a political fundraiser.
A spokesman for McConnell said in an announcement Wednesday that the Senate leader “felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today,” NBC News reported.
An aide to McConnell added that while the senator “feels superb, as a prudential measure, the Leader can be consulting a physician prior to his next event,” per NBC.
Fresh questions on McConnell’s health arise at an especially fraught moment for Republicans in Congress, who hold a narrow majority within the House and 49 seats within the Senate, one shy of a majority.
On Tuesday, Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise announced that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. The 57-year-old Louisiana lawmaker called the disease “very treatable” and promised he would return to Washington, though he didn’t say precisely when.
Congress is scheduled to return to session in September after a monthlong recess, with the Senate back in session Sept. 5 and the House on Sept. 12.
President Joe Biden, asked about McConnell during a briefing Wednesday afternoon on the severe weather threatening the U.S. southeast, said he would reach out to the senator.
“We now have disagreements politically, but he’s a very good friend,” Biden said. “And so I will attempt to get in contact with him later this afternoon.”
Biden had wished McConnell well after his fall in March, and the senator said the president had called him up following his verbal freeze in July. “I told him I got sandbagged,” McConnell said he told the president at the moment.
Republicans will not be the one ones fielding concerns about their health and fitness to serve in Congress. With a median age of 59 years old, the House and Senate are older today than at any point in modern history.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who at 90 is the oldest member of either party In Congress, has come under immense bipartisan scrutiny for continuing to carry her Senate seat despite a series of debilitating health issues.
Feinstein was away from Washington for 3 months earlier this 12 months while she recovered from shingles, leaving Democrats down a vote within the Senate, where members will not be permitted to forged votes in absentia.
The Democratic lawmaker was briefly hospitalized earlier this month after a minor fall in her home.
