Mitch McConnell says he suffered fall, was unconscious in first statement since hospitalization

BREAKING NEWSJul. 12, 2026, 10:40 PM UTCCongressCongressMitch McConnell says he suffered fall, was unconscious in first statement since hospitalizationMcConnell said he would return to the Senate but did not give a date.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00McConnell said that he has spent his whole life with “mobility challenges,” citing his survival of childhood polio.Nathan Posner / Anadolu via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Julie Tsirkin and Raquel Coronell UribeSen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Sunday in his first public statement since being hospitalized nearly a month ago that he was “briefly unconscious” after suffering a fall.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.In the statement, accompanied by a photo of McConnell smiling in a hospital chair alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, he said he has not yet been cleared by doctors to return to the Senate floor to vote.“But rest assured that, in the meantime, I’m not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you,” McConnell said. “I’ve also been keeping in touch with my Senate colleagues on the appropriations process, midterm politics, and everything in between.”The senator, 84, said that he has “submitted to every test” doctors can think of to figure out what prompted the fall and has moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center where he says he will “keep regaining my strength.”An image provided on Sunday by McConnell's office appears to show him reclined in a hospital chair with his wife, Elaine Chao. via office of Mitch McConnell“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” McConnell said in the statement.The sen...