Former GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who stepped down from that role last year amid rising concerns about his health, provided an update after he reportedly fell multiple times on Wednesday.
The Kentucky Republican, 82, was seen using a wheelchair after the incidents. Reports said he fell down a small flight of stairs at least once leaving the Senate chamber on his way to lunch with GOP colleagues, Express US reported.
“Fox confirms. McConnell falls down Senate stairs after voting to confirm Scott Turner as HUD Secretary. Unclear about injuries. But Fox is told he appears to be ok. McConnell was helped up by Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK),” Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram tweeted.
According to his office, McConnell, who had polio as a child, is currently using a wheelchair “purely as a precautionary measure.”
“Senator McConnell is fine,” a McConnell spokesman said. “The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) told reporters after witnessing the fall: “I think he just slipped on the steps. I was right behind him and helped him get back up, and he walked on his own power to lunch.”
McConnell was seen leaving the lunch on foot, holding onto an aide’s arm. However, he was later spotted by the press returning to the venue in a wheelchair.
McConnell stepped down as Senate Republican leader earlier this year after experiencing multiple health issues. In December, he also suffered a fall in the Capitol building following a lunch with his colleagues, resulting in a minor face cut and a wrist sprain.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), who succeeded McConnell as Senate GOP leader in January, told reporters following the weekly Senate GOP policy luncheon that McConnell was “fine” and “in his office.” He referred any questions about McConnell to the senator’s staff.
Medical staff with a wheelchair were reportedly called to assist the senator after his fall. Republican Sen. John Barrasso, the new Senate GOP whip, told the Daily Mail that McConnell “is fine.” McConnell was “cleared to resume his schedule,” his office said at the time.
Last year, McConnell revealed that he’s “not leaving the Senate” and that he’s focused on combating the Republican Party’s “isolationist movement,” which some viewed as a shot at President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming team.
During an interview with WHAS radio host Terry Meiners, McConnell vowed to use his remaining time in the Senate to hit back against GOP colleagues who aim to rein in U.S. support for foreign allies such as Israel and Ukraine.
Despite his plans to step down as party leader, McConnell said, “I’m not leaving the Senate.” He added, “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party and so many others as well.”
Meiners noted that Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul has criticized McConnell and said he is out of touch with the people in Kentucky.
“Paul would be the first one to say that he’s an isolationist. He has been all along. This is not anything new for him. And he and I have always disagreed on this kind of issue,” McConnell said, referring to Paul.
McConnell said that he finds it “more troublesome” that others appear to be “heading in that direction, making arguments that I think are easily refuted.”
He added, “We’re not losing any of our troops. The Ukrainians are the ones doing the fighting. If the Russians take Ukraine, some NATO country would be next, and then we will be right in the middle of it.”
