Senate Minority Leader McConnell Diagnosed with Concussion after Fall

David Popp, a spokesperson for Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), has confirmed that the Senate minority leader has suffered a concussion and will remain under medical supervision for several days.

“Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion,” Popp said Thursday afternoon. “He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment.”

McConnell, 81, was taken to the hospital on Wednesday night following an event for the Senate Leadership Fund at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C.  Senators John Thune (R., S.D.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) were also present.

“This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” a spokesperson for the senator noted in a statement released shortly afterward. The representative added that McConnell was attending a private dinner when he tripped.

Prior to the fall, the Kentucky senator was reportedly busy working at the Capitol into Wednesday evening, passing a disapproval resolution blocking the District of Columbia’s new crime bill.

The vote was carried by 81 senators in favor of the motion, with the majority of Democrats joining Republicans in a bipartisan rebuke of a bill widely seen as lightening penalties for criminal offenses such as carjackings and burglaries.

“Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies, like those in D.C.’s radical new criminal code, further threaten the safety of our communities — which already suffer from unacceptable levels of violent crime. Policies should make Americans feel safe in their neighborhoods, not more at risk,” Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah) tweeted on Wednesday.

The bill was previously passed by the House, with the support of 31 Democrats, and is headed to the desk of President Joe Biden, who has signaled his intention to sign it.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, became the Republican Party’s leader in 2007, and is now serving his seventh six-year term in the Senate.

Fellow senator John Cornyn (R., Tex.) publicly wished McConnell a speedy recovery. “Sandy and I are praying for Leader McConnell’s speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in the Capitol soon,” the Texas Senator tweeted early Thursday morning.

The health woes continue for the Senate as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) was recently hospitalized due to shingles and Senator John Fetterman (D., Pa.) remains sidelined for medical treatments.

McConnell had previously fallen at his personal residence in 2019, resulting in a fractured shoulder.

McConnell and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, have been outspoken critics of Donald Trump. The former president recently sought to tie the couple to classified material found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., dabbling in racism.

“Does Coco Chow have anything to do with Joe Biden’s Classified Documents being sent and stored in Chinatown?” Trump posted on Truth Social, a social-media platform he created, in late January. “Her husband, the Old Broken Crow, is VERY close to Biden, the Democrats, and, of course, China.”

“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans,” Chao responded in an official statement first obtained by Politico.

With the opening of the 118th Congress, McConnell became the longest-serving senator in history, surpassing the previous record of 16 years.