Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to freeze up and was unable to talk with reporters at an occasion in Kentucky on Wednesday, only a month after a equally scary episode on Capitol Hill.
McConnell, 81, didn’t reply when requested about working for reelection in 2026, prompting an aide to repeat the query.
“What are my thoughts about what?” McConnell mentioned, earlier than freezing up.
“Did you hear the question, senator?” an aide requested the senator, earlier than telling reporters, “I’m sorry all, we’re going to need a minute.”
McConnell had no bother talking whereas delivering remarks moments earlier on the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Authorities Discussion board. The senator known as the standing of presidency funding talks “a pretty big mess” and even cracked just a few jokes, together with about his position as chief of the Senate GOP.
“I’ve frequently been asked, ‘What’s it been like to be the leader of your party in the Senate?’” McConnell said on the occasion. “I finally came up with the perfect answer: It’s a little bit like being a groundskeeper at a cemetery. Everybody’s under you but nobody is listening.”
After final month’s freeze-up, McConnell mentioned he was “fine” and his aides insisted he merely felt lightheaded after he was unable to talk for about 20 seconds at a press convention on Capitol Hill. McConnell’s GOP colleagues downplayed any speak of well being points, calling him sharp as ever.
McConnell was hospitalized for a concussion and damaged ribs after falling earlier this 12 months. The longtime Kentucky Republican senator, who had polio as a baby, has slowed noticeably since then. He walks extra slowly within the Capitol and has bother listening to.
GOP senators have reportedly expressed issues in personal about McConnell’s well being, noting that he doesn’t converse or reply questions at weekly coverage lunches as usually as he used to.
“People think that he’s not hearing well,” one GOP senator instructed NBC Information. “I think that he is just not processing.”
