Mitch McConnell Says Fall Last Month Led To Hospitalization, Briefly Unconscious With Pneumonia

Sen. Mitch McConnell said Sunday that a fall last month led to his hospitalization, and he described being “briefly unconscious” after the incident while also dealing with “a mild case of pneumonia.”

McConnell said his doctors confirmed that he “didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion,” and he added that he did not have “a heart attack or a stroke” or “tumors or hemorrhages.”

ABC News

The Associated Press reported that McConnell was hospitalized on June 14, has been moved to a rehabilitation facility, and said he cannot return to the Senate “quite yet.”

NBC News said McConnell told the public he was “briefly unconscious” after the fall and that he has moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center while his doctors have not yet cleared him to vote on the Senate floor.

McConnell said he hesitated to be more public about what happened because “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older.”

In his statement, McConnell also said, “Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it,” and he framed the disclosure as part of his effort to explain what kept him away from the Senate.

Associated Press

NBC News reported that McConnell’s office had provided few details about what landed him in the hospital, and it noted that Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear asked him to update the public about his health in a “transparent manner.”

The Guardian said McConnell’s Sunday statement came after his hospitalization on 14 June and after his office for weeks insisted only that he was “receiving excellent care” and recovering.

McConnell said he intends to finish his term, which expires in January, and he told Kentuckians, “I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf, and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do.”

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Axios

The Associated Press reported that, coupled with the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, McConnell’s absence will temporarily whittle the GOP majority in the chamber down by two, to 51-47, as Republicans try to increase military funding and advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.

NBC News said Republicans had only a 52-47 majority in the Senate with McConnell absent, and it described his statement as coming the day after Graham died “from a brief and sudden illness,” according to Graham’s office.

Axios said McConnell’s comments were his first public explanation of the hospitalization that fueled weeks of speculation about his health ahead of his planned retirement, and it quoted McConnell saying his doctors confirmed he “didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion.”