Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday in his first public statement since he was hospitalized nearly a month ago that he was “briefly unconscious” after he suffered a fall.
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In the statement, accompanied by a photo of McConnell smiling in a hospital chair alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, he said doctors have not yet cleared him to return to the Senate floor to vote.
“But rest assured that, in the meantime, I’m not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you,” McConnell said. “I’ve also been keeping in touch with my Senate colleagues on the appropriations process, midterm politics, and everything in between.”
McConnell, 84, said he has “submitted to every test” doctors can think of to figure out what prompted the fall and has moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center where, he said, he will “keep regaining my strength.”
An image provided Sunday by McConnell’s office shows him reclined in a hospital chair with his wife, Elaine Chao. via office of Mitch McConnell
“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” McConnell said in the statement.
He added that he has spent his whole life with “mobility challenges,” citing his survival of childhood polio. An attached statement from the office of the attending physician said McConnell has “experienced several falls throughout the year that have been attributed to his post-polio condition.”
“The remainder of his hospital stay focused on physical therapy and strategies to reduce his risk of future falls,” the attending physician’s statement read.
McConnell’s office announced that he had been hospitalized on June 14. His office did not disclose a reason; police scanner audio obtained by NBC News this month showed that paramedics that day conducted CPR on a person experiencing “cardiac arrest” at a known address for McConnell.
McConnell has drawn scrutiny for not disclosing the reason for his lengthy hospitalization, including from Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who wrote McConnell a letter last week requesting an update on his health.
“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct — I can’t help it,” McConnell said Sunday.
With McConnell’s absence, Republicans had only a 52-47 majority in the Senate.
His statement comes the day after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died “from a brief and sudden illness,” Graham’s office said Saturday night.
McConnell, who was elected to the Senate in 1984, announced in February that he would retire at the end of this year.
“You’re right to expect your representatives to work hard for you. And part of my decision to retire at the end of my term this coming January was being honest about the demands of Senate work. But I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf, and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do,” he said in his statement Sunday.
