Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell brushed aside concerns about his two recent episodes of immobility and declined to comment further on what happened on Wednesday.
The 81-year-old chuckled as reporters peppered him with questions about his public health fears and insisted he was being transparent.
“Dr. Monahan’s report addresses these concerns,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters during a brief press conference. “I really have nothing to add. I think he’s pretty good about addressing that.”
On Tuesday, McConnell’s office released a statement from Capitol Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan who checked the GOP Senate leader.
Monahan did not reveal what caused McConnell’s freezing episode and emphasized that “there is no evidence that you have a seizure disorder or that you have a stroke, a TIA [mini-stroke] or movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.”
A growing chorus of Republicans — including former President Donald Trump, 77 — has suggested the minority leader step aside, but McConnell insists he plans to stick around.
The 81-year-old GOP leader was coy about his recent health scare during a news conference Wednesday.Getty Images
Before the Q&A, Mitch McConnell blamed President Biden for the delay in delivering aid to Ukraine. Reuters
“I’m going to finish my term as leader and I’m going to finish my Senate term,” McConnell emphatically declared before leaving the press conference.
McConnell’s Q&A with the congressional press corps lasted just under two minutes and followed a longer Senate GOP update to the public on their agenda.
Both episodes of the senator’s public freeze occurred during press conferences.
McConnell first froze mid-sentence on July 26 for about 20 seconds during a news conference with the congressional press corps.
He again went stone-faced and paused for about 30 seconds on Aug. 30 while answering a reporter’s question about whether he intended to run for re-election in 2024 in Covington, Ky., near Cincinnati.
Mitch McConnell had a blank look on his face during the August 30 freeze. via REUTERS
The public freeze of the Senate minority leader on July 26 scared the passage.AP
Last week, Monahan deemed McConnell “medically clear” to resume his duties in the upper house.
“Occasional dizziness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected from dehydration,” the doctor said last week.
McConnell suffered a concussion and broken small ribs on March 8 after falling during a fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, DC. He was sidelined from the Senate floor for weeks as a result.
Senator Mitch McConnell is notoriously tight-lipped and careful with his words. Reuters
Monahan’s remarks drew skepticism from McConnell’s counterpart in Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul, a licensed physician.
“When you’re dehydrated, you don’t have that moment where your eyes are staring blankly into the distance and you’re basically unconscious with your eyes open. That is not a symptom of dehydration,” he said. according to a reporter from The Hill.
Medical experts have suggested to The Post that partial seizures could explain McConnell’s health problems.
Monahan cautiously dismissed the possibility of a “seizure disorder.”
McConnell’s aides have emphasized that he is clear after both public attacks of verbal paralysis and insists that he just feels lightheaded.
Concussions and frostbite aren’t the senator’s only public health fears.
In July, Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) revealed to reporters that McConnell fell in February while leading a senatorial delegation to Finland but appeared to be uninjured.
He also reportedly fell while boarding a canceled flight at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in northern Virginia on July 14.
The Kentucky senator doubts whether he intends to run for re-election in 2026.REUTERS
McConnell has led the Senate GOP since 2007, making him the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in US history.
If he steps down early, Kentucky law mandates the governor appoint a Republican successor, though Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) has not committed to complying.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
