GOP Senators are weighing a ‘special’ meeting on their leadership after McConnell’s latest freezing incident.
81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is “medically clear” to continue work after he froze up for the second time within the last month on Wednesday.
And this is just what we have seen in public. Certainly, McConnell is having these episodes in private as well.
McConnell was holding a press conference in Covington, Kentucky on Wednesday when he went into a catatonic state.
Mitch McConnell temporarily froze and was unable to speak. An aide came to his rescue and promptly ended the press conference.
Late last month McConnell became unresponsive and stared blankly during a Senate press conference.
As TGP’s Kristinn Taylor reported, McConnell suffered a concussion and a broken bone after a fall in March. He was hospitalized and did a stint in rehab before returning to the Senate in mid-April.
A Capitol physician suggested McConnell is experiencing small seizures.
“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,” Capitol physician Brian Monahan said in a statement on Thursday.
Politico reported:
A handful of GOP senators are weighing whether to force a fraught internal debate about their leadership’s future after Mitch McConnell’s second public freeze-up in a month.
Some rank-and-file Republicans have discussed the possibility of a broader conversation once senators return to Washington next week, according to a person directly involved in the conversations who confirmed them on condition of anonymity. Party leadership is not currently involved in those discussions, and nothing has been decided yet, this person added.
It takes just five Republican senators to force a special conference meeting, which is the most direct way to have a specific discussion about the minority leader after his public pause on Wednesday revived questions about his condition. But the Senate GOP also holds private lunches two or three times a week, giving members another forum for hashing out the direction of the party’s leadership — one that could forestall the need for a special confab.
