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On July 27, Republican senator Mitch McConnell suddenly froze during a press conference in Capitol Hill, Washington. Now, in just over a month, on August 30, he again froze while speaking to reporters at a Chamber of Commerce news conference in Covington, Kentucky. In fact, he stood silently for more than 30 seconds when he was asked whether he would run for re-election in 2026.
In the viral video that has now surfaced on the internet, the 81-year-old senator can be seen taking a sudden pause while answering the reporters. No sooner did he freeze than his staff came and prompted him. An aide even asked:
“Did you hear the question senator? Running for re-election 2026?”
Seeing that Mitch McConnell was unresponsive, she told the reporters:
“Okay, I’m sorry you all. We’re gonna need a minute.”
Following this, Mitch McConnell took several more seconds before recovering. Later, he answered two more questions, which had to be repeated by his staff.
The news of the senator’s freezing has once again raised concerns among the media and doctors. In this regard, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said the following:
“While it’s hard to watch, it doesn’t seem like it is light-headedness, seems to be something really ongoing. Someone who has a Parkinsonian-like condition, for example, whose medications are wearing off or something like that.”
Just like last time, this time too, the senator made no comments about his health, before being escorted out by his aides.
Mitch McConnell’s second freezing incident triggers health concerns among doctors
As per BBC, in March, Senator Mitch McConnell was hospitalized for a week following a fall outside a Washington hotel. Back then, he suffered a concussion and a fractured rib. Later, he reportedly spent time in a rehabilitation facility and returned to the Senate in mid-April.
Three months later, on July 27, he suffered his first public freezing incident during a Capitol Hill media conference, where he paused mid-sentence for nearly 20 seconds, before being escorted out by his aides and fellow Republican senators.
However, he later came back and informed reporters that he was “fine” and had felt “lightheaded.” It was also reported at that time that he consulted a doctor about the incident.
Now, in just over a month, the senator seems to have suffered a similar verbal lapse in public. While he made no comments, one of his spokesperson told the press:
“Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.”
They also told CBS News separately that Mitch McConnell “feels fine” but “will be consulting a physician prior to his next event as a prudential measure."
Despite the clarification from the senator's staff, concerns over McConnell's health have emerged. For instance, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta weighed in on the incident during his appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday.
He said that what he saw was “pretty concerning” and Mitch McConnell’s recent episode was similar to July’s freezing incident. He also added that there was a wide range of possibilities as to what may have caused it.
“It’s the freezing of the speech, it’s the freezing of the body, it’s the tight sort of grasping of the side of the lectern…His face even has this mask-like feature to it. So, there’s a lot of things that are going on there,” he stated.
Dr. Gupta further continued by saying that Mitch McConnell could have suffered from a seizure or something similar and hinted that he also may be suffering from Parkinson's and is having these frequent freezing episodes whenever his medications start wearing off.
He also noted how it was evident that the senator’s aides were not taken by surprise at his sudden verbal pause, meaning they were used to his freezing episodes and may have even seen it a couple of times.
“They didn’t seem particularly alarmed by it. If it was the first time or an unknown thing, I think there probably would have been more of a rush or an interest at least in getting him to a doctor more quickly,” Gupta concluded.
Echoing a similar opinion, during Fox News' The Special Report with Bret Baier, the channel's medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel, said that the Senator Minority Leader’s freezing episode suggested that he had some underlying health issue. He even stated:
“My best guess would be Parkinson’s disease because that, in its later stages, can give you a freeze.”
Like Dr. Gupta, Dr. Siegel also observed that Mitch McConnell’s aides were not in a rush to get him immediate care, which indicated that such episodes happened often. He also observed how nobody around him was panicking.
“This could be a stroke. This could be a seizure…You’d do an MRI, you would do an EEG to see if it could be either, but if it’s Parkinson’s, you already know about that and somebody diagnosed that clinically by doing an examination,” Siegel observed.
Dr. Siegel wrapped up by saying while he conclusively could not tell what it was, it was striking to see that alarm bells didn’t go off among medical personnel around.
“If he has later stages of a neurological disease, I would think that he would consider stepping down,” he added.
What’s interesting is that, after the July incident, several media outlets, including BBC, reported that Mitch McConnell had endured at least three falls since February, adding to the speculations about his worsening health conditions.
Following the latest episode, Ryan Wrasse, an aide to Senator John Thune, who is Mitch McConnell’s deputy, told the BBC that they had a word with the senator and he “sounded like his usual self and was in good spirits.”
President Joe Biden also told the BBC that he would “try and get in touch” with McConnell as he was “a good friend” despite their political disagreements.
Concerns over Mitch McConnell’s health come in the wake of 90-year-old California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein’s absence from the Upper House of Congress for many months after being diagnosed with shingles.
