'Odd moment': McConnell returns to presser after 'abruptly' freezing

U.S. Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to freeze up during his weekly press conference and needed assistance to leave the podium.

“Odd moment,” reports Nexstar’s Raquel Martin. “McConnell freezes at start of Senate GOP leadership press conference and is escorted to the side by his colleagues.”

“During a Senate Republican press conference, Leader Mitch McConnell began speaking, took a long pause, then was helped away from the podium before Senator Thune took over,” reports Fox News Radio White House and Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Schmelz. “Leader McConnell eventually left the room and later returned.”

NBC News producer Frank Thorp V:

NBC News reports McConnell “suddenly stopped speaking during a weekly Republican leadership news conference on Wednesday afternoon, appearing to freeze, and then went silent and was walked away.”

“Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming escorted McConnell away from the cameras and reporters,” NBC adds. “Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa made a sign of the cross as if she was praying for McConnell.”

He returned “minutes later” and “said he was fine.”

McConnell, who turned 81 in February, began his political career in 1968. He has been the U.S. Senator from Kentucky since 1985. Five years ago he became the longest serving Senate Republican Leader.

Should McConnell decide to retire, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor would not be allowed to replace him with a Democrat, thanks to a McConnell-backed law state Republican lawmakers passed in 2021. Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed it, but the GOP majority legislature overrode his veto.

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