Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell abruptly stopped talking at his weekly press conference with top Senate GOP leaders on Wednesday when he froze and appeared unable to continue for more than 30 seconds as he gripped the podium. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the third ranking Republican and a physician, walked with McConnell for a few steps near the Senate floor as other leaders resumed the press conference.
McConnell returned a few moments later. Asked about the episode and whether it was related to his health issues after a fall earlier this year when he suffered a concussion, he said, "I'm fine," and told reporters he was able to do his job.
McConnell later said that President Biden, a former Senate colleague of the minority leader, called him to ask how he's doing. "I told him I got sand-bagged," McConnell quipped, in apparent reference to Biden's fall at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation where he tripped on a sand bag. In response to a question about how he's feeling now McConnell said, "I'm fine."
Earlier, Barrasso stressed to reporters that McConnell returned to talk to the press and "he answered more questions than he normally does." He said he has "no new concerns" about McConnell's health.
In March the Kentucky Republican, who is 81 and the longest serving party leader in the Senate in U.S. history, fell at an event in Washington with GOP donors and was hospitalized. He was treated for a concussion and released after five days. McConnell has experienced other falls and health issues and he walks with a limp, a result of having polio as a child. He has talked publicly about his experience with that disease, when he was diagnosed before a polio vaccine had been developed. In 2018, he cited his personal battle as motivation to eradicate the disease around the world. He also wrote about his experience doing grueling exercises to be able to walk while battling polio in his 2016 memoir, The Long Game.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked about what happened on Wednesday and if he had any concerns about the top Senate Republican's health told reporters, "I always wish Leader McConnell well."
McConnell was first elected in 1984 and is up for reelection in 2026 and has not made any announcements about whether he will run for an eighth term. When asked on Wednesday if he had any successor in mind when he no longer was serving as GOP leader McConnell laughed and walked away without responding.
Leigh Walden contributed to this report.
