McConnell says a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking weeks of silence

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell on Sunday revealed for the primary time {that a} fall led to his hospitalization, breaking the silence about his situation after weeks of mounting hypothesis concerning the Kentucky Republican’s well being.

McConnell, 84, mentioned in a press release that he was “briefly unconscious” across the time he was first taken to the hospital and has undergone a battery of checks to attempt to decide what led to his fall. He mentioned he was additionally handled for gentle pneumonia and has been moved to a rehabilitation facility.

“My medical doctors have confirmed that I did not break any bones or endure a concussion. I did not have a coronary heart assault or a stroke. I haven’t got any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell mentioned, including that he’s now “regaining my power.”

McConnell’s assertion got here on the heels of the surprising loss of life of his fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. McConnell mentioned he can not return to the Senate “fairly but.”

Coupled with Graham’s passing, that can briefly whittle the GOP majority in that chamber down by two, to 51-47, as Republicans attempt to enhance army funding, advance President Donald Trump’s agenda and ensure Trump’s nominees.

McConnell defined the four-week silence about his situation by saying that “of us of my era typically hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with rising older.”

“Even within the public eye, I really feel that very same intuition — I can not assist it,” he mentioned.

McConnell mentioned he’ll proceed to work together with his workers on Senate enterprise. His assertion included a smiling image of the senator together with his spouse Elaine Chao, a tacit response to hypothesis on-line that McConnell had died or was incapacitated.

McConnnell’s disclosure comes after rising stress

McConnell had supplied little info since his hospitalization on June 14, his workplace insisting solely that he was “receiving glorious care” and recovering. Hypothesis about his situation grew so intense that Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear took the extraordinary step final week of issuing a public letter asking McConnell to replace the general public in a “clear method.”

McConnell is retiring on the finish of January after one of the consequential careers in trendy politics. Republicans have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Barr to switch him, whereas Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. He mentioned he’s decided to complete out his time period.

“I nonetheless have unfinished enterprise to finish in your behalf,” McConnell wrote within the assertion addressed to Kentuckians, “and I’ve each intention of ending the job you elected me to do.”

McConnell has a historical past of well being issues

McConnell had polio in his early childhood and has lengthy acknowledged some problem as an grownup in strolling and climbing stairs.

The doctor’s workplace in Congress within the assertion Sunday mentioned McConnell has “skilled a number of falls by means of the yr” attributable to his “post-polio situation.” The workplace mentioned his bodily remedy is aimed toward decreasing the chance of him falling once more.

“A complete analysis by a multidisciplinary crew decided that he had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage,” the doctor’s workplace mentioned.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican chief from 2007 till final yr, serving as each majority and minority chief throughout that interval. He has remained lively as a rank-and-file senator, displaying up for work when the chamber is in session, typically utilizing a wheelchair to get round.

However the senator’s bodily situation has visibly declined lately.

He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed a number of weeks of labor after falling in a Washington resort. He twice froze up throughout information conferences after he returned, staring vacantly forward earlier than colleagues and workers. A yr later, he fell and sprained his wrist whereas strolling out of a GOP luncheon.