Mitch McConnell 'medically clear' after freezing episode, says doctor
Washington: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has released a statement from his doctor saying he is “medically clear” to continue working after he mysteriously froze during a public news conference for the second time in weeks.
And as questions intensified over the top Republican’s fitness for office, US President Joe Biden also came to McConnell’s defence, saying his episode was not unusual given the concussion the senator suffered after a serious fall earlier this year.
Mitch McConnell and Joe Biden.Credit: Reuters
“I spoke to him today and he was his old self on the telephone,” said Biden, who is a friend of McConnell’s from their days in the Senate together.
“It’s not at all unusual to have the response that sometimes happens to Mitch, when you’ve had severe concussion. It’s part of the recovery and I’m confident he’s going to be back to his old self.”
At 81, McConnell is one of the oldest people in the US Congress and the longest serving Republican leader in history. Elected in Kentucky in 1984, he has served seven terms - including as Senate Majority Leader when Republicans controlled the chamber while Donald Trump was president.
Robbin Taylor, the state director to US Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell intervenes.Credit: AP
However, colleagues have become increasingly concerned about his ability to now do his job as the minority leader of the Democratic-controlled Senate, after he seized up for about 30 seconds while taking questions from reporters on Wednesday.
Instead of answering, McConnell stared into the distance - similar to another episode he had last month when he froze for about 23 seconds during a press conference at Capitol Hill and had to be escorted away.
With the Senate resuming next week after the summer recess, McConnell issued a statement from the Capitol physician, Brian Monahan, saying: “I have consulted with Leader McConnell and conferred with his neurology team. After evaluating yesterday’s incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned.
“Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.”
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The statement appears to be the first time a clear link has been drawn between McConnell’s freezing episodes and the impact of the fall he had at a dinner in March, which resulted in him being hospitalised for days and treated for concussion and a rib fracture.
The latest scare has triggered further questions about his health and his political future.
There are three Republican senators — known in Washington as “the three Johns” — who could replace McConnell as the leader of their party in the upper chamber of Congress.
They are 62-year old South Dakota Senator John Thune (the No. 2 Republican in the Senate); 71-year-old Senator John Cornyn (a former Texas attorney General); and Senator John Barrasso, 71 (an orthopedic surgeon from Wyoming).
McConnell’s ongoing medical problems could also undermine the Republicans’ plan to make Biden’s age and mental capacity a central part of their argument against him at next year’s presidential election.
Then US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley with Donald Trump in the White House in 2018.Credit: AP
Biden, 80, is already the oldest president in US history and will be 86 by the end of his second term if he wins re-election next November.
Some in the party have already called for broader political renewal in Washington. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, for instance, has made regeneration a feature of her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
“America is not past our prime – it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” the 51-year-old declared when she launched her candidacy for the presidency earlier this year.
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“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire. We’ll have term limits for Congress. And mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is also vying for the nomination, has used his status as a 38-year-old candidate to position himself a young political outsider and anti-woke crusader in the mould of Trump, who is 77.
Part of the issue is that there are no term limits in Congress: Senators are elected for six-year terms and members of the House of Representatives are elected for two.
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