Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell freezes mid-sentence and stares vacantly for around 20 seconds during press conference
The US Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, appeared to freeze mid-sentence and stare into space for around 20 seconds during a press conference.
The 81-year-old approached the podium for his weekly press conference and began speaking about the annual defence funding bill before appearing to lose his train of thought and trailing off with a drawn-out “uh”.
He then appeared to stare vacantly into space for around 20 seconds, before his Republican colleagues grabbed his elbows and asked if he wanted to go back to his office.
He did not answer but slowly walked back to his office with an aide and the senator for Wyoming, John Barrasso.
Mr McConnell was out of the Senate – the upper chamber of Congress – for almost six weeks earlier this year after he fell and hit his head after a dinner event at a hotel.
He was in hospital for several days and his officer later said he suffered a concussion and fractured a rib.
His speech has sounded more halting in recent weeks, prompting questions about his health.
Mr McConnell returned to the press conference 12 minutes later to take questions and said he was “fine”.
When asked if he is still able to do his job, he said: “Yeah.”
Mr McConnell’s office declined to say whether he was seen by a doctor after the episode.
Read more on Sky News:
Hunter Biden pleads not guilty over tax charges
Fed raises US interest rates to 22-year high
Biden’s dog bit Secret Service staff ‘at least 10 times in four months’
Mitch McConnell and President Biden in January
Colleagues ‘continue to be concerned’
After the press conference, Mr Barrasso told reporters he “wanted to make sure everything was fine” and so walked Mr McConnell down the hall to his office.
He said he has been concerned since Mr McConnell was injured earlier this year, adding “and I continue to be concerned.”
Later on Wednesday Mr McConnell again told reporters he was fine and said President Joe Biden had called him.
“The president called to check up on me, and I told him I got sandbagged,” Mr McConnell joked, referring to a quote from Mr Biden after he tripped over a sandbag and fell while onstage at the US Air Force Academy graduation in June.
Trips and falls
Mr McConnell is the longest-serving Senate party leader and was first elected to the Senate in 1984.
He had polio in his childhood and has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in climbing stairs.
In addition to his fall in March he also tripped and fell four years ago at his home in Kentucky, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery.
Many of the top figures in Washington are elderly, with the average age in the Senate above 64 and Mr Biden running for re-election at 80.
Dozens of supporters were outside court as the man accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare made his first appearance.
Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder following the 4 December killing of Brian Thompson, 50, outside a midtown Manhattan hotel.
The 26-year-old is accused of ambushing and shooting the executive as he walked to an investor conference.
Luigi Mangione supporters stand outside the Supreme Court. Pic: AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah
Dozens of people who showed up in court to support the suspect including former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was jailed for stealing classified diplomatic cables.
Dozens more queued in the hallway.
Mangione is also facing federal charges that could carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The judge set a deadline of 9 April to submit pre-trial motions.
Luigi Mangione is accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson. Pic: Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP
In addition to the New York cases, Mr Mangione also faces charges of forgery, carrying firearms without a licence, and other counts in Pennsylvania, where authorities arrested him at a McDonald’s.
Police say he was in possession of a gun, bullets, multiple fake IDs and a handwritten document that expressed “ill will” towards corporate America.
He is being held in a Brooklyn jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including music mogul and rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, and disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
The killing prompted some to voice their resentment at US health insurers, with Mangione attracting a cult following.
A poll taken in the wake of the shooting showed most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials were partly to blame for the incident.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway