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 in regards to the Kentucky Republican’s well being.
McConnell, 84, stated in an announcement that he was “briefly unconscious” across the time he was first taken to the hospital and has undergone a battery of exams to attempt to decide what led to his fall. He stated he was additionally handled for gentle pneumonia and has been moved to a rehabilitation facility.
“My docs have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or undergo a concussion. I didn’t have a coronary heart assault or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell stated, including that he’s now “regaining my energy.”
He defined the four-week silence about his situation by saying that “of us of my technology usually hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with rising older.”
“Even within the public eye, I really feel that very same intuition — I can’t assist it,” he stated.
McConnell stated he is not going to be returning to the Senate “fairly but” however continues to work along with his employees on Senate enterprise. The assertion included a smiling image of the senator along 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 offered little data 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 vital consequential careers in fashionable politics. Republicans have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Barr to exchange him, whereas Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. He stated 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 issue as an grownup in strolling and climbing stairs.
The doctor’s workplace in Congress within the assertion Sunday stated McConnell has “skilled a number of falls by way of the yr” as a result of his “post-polio situation.” The workplace stated his bodily remedy is geared toward lowering the danger 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 stated.
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 energetic as a rank-and-file senator, displaying up for work when the chamber is in session, usually 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 lodge. He twice froze up throughout information conferences after he returned, staring vacantly forward earlier than colleagues and employees. A yr later, he fell and sprained his wrist whereas strolling out of a GOP luncheon.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, introduced to the U.S. Senate that he is not going to search reelection.
