Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) today insisted that he is “fine” after he froze up midspeech during a press conference and was led away.
Benny Johnson shared a video of the incident in a tweet as he announced, “PANIC: 81 Year Old Mitch McConnell stops speaking, freezes dead and has total mental health episode live on TV.”
“Other senators gather around McConnell and speak to him like he’s a brain damage nursing home patient,” Johnson explained.
Johnson then declared, “AGE LIMITS FOR CONGRESS NOW.”
?PANIC: 81 Year Old Mitch McConnell stops speaking, freezes dead and has total mental health episode live on TV.
Other senators gather around McConnell and speak to him like he’s a brain damage nursing home patient.
AGE LIMITS FOR CONGRESS NOWpic.twitter.com/KAOCzqA0aa
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 26, 2023
A CSPAN video later showed McConnell returning to the podium again to insist that he is “fine.”
“Could you address what happened here at the start of the press conference and was it related to your injury from earlier this year where you suffered a concussion?” a reporter asked.
McConnell told the reporter with a wave of his hand, “I’m fine.”
“You’re fine? You’re fully able to do your job?” the reporter pressed, to which McConnell responded, “Yeah.”
McConnell returned to the Senate in April six weeks after he was hurt in a fall that resulted in a concussion and a rib injury.
Q: “Could you address what happened here at the start of the press conference and was it related to your injury from earlier this year where you suffered a concussion?”
Sen. McConnell: “I’m fine.”
Q: “You’re fine? You’re fully able to do your job?”
McConnell: “Yeah.” pic.twitter.com/Can1RtzqmM
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 26, 2023
