‘Violent’ and ‘bleeding’: Sen. McConnell’s fall was worse than disclosed, book says
A new book chronicling the political career of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell reveals new details about his March 2023 fall, describing it as “violent” and “concussive,” and much more serious than previously disclosed by McConnell’s office.
The fall preceded two high-profile events where McConnell appeared to freeze while speaking in public, prompting questions about his fitness to hold office.
“The Price of Power,” by Associated Press journalist Michael Tackett, includes a vivid account of how McConnell lost consciousness after he fell in a hotel restroom following a private political dinner in Washington 19 months ago.
“He hit so hard that he lost both of his hearing aids and was bleeding at the back of his head. For a time, he also lost consciousness,” Tackett writes.
At the time, McConnell’s office provided only sparse details to the public.
“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,” David Popp, his spokesman, wrote in a statement to reporters on that March evening.
But privately, Tackett reports that people inside McConnell’s world were “terrified.”
Tackett writes that at the same time, “A neurological team went into action to check for signs of bleeding or swelling in the brain and other possible trauma. They quickly concluded that at a minimum the senator had suffered a serious concussion.”
Doctors quickly diagnosed that McConnell had suffered a cracked rib in addition to the concussion. They instructed him not to “use his phone, read or do anything remotely mentally or physically taxing, as that could worsen what in effect was a badly bruised brain,” the book says.
McConnell’s physical therapy was “challenging,” sometimes lasting three hours a day. Terry Carmack, who ran McConnell’s Kentucky’s Senate office and had the longest tenure with him, was with McConnell for almost 30 straight days to help.
McConnell finally returned to work on April 17, six weeks after the fall.
But three months later, another incident occurred.
At a press conference on July 26, 2023, McConnell froze for about 25 seconds. Tackett reports that “some who were there said they wondered if McConnell might die at that moment,” with his “aides stricken, unsure what to do about what they had just witnessed.”
McConnell did not see a doctor until the next day, undergoing a battery of tests.
“One of McConnell’s advisers said it included a brain scan,” something McConnell would not confirm, according to Tackett. McConnell attributed the freeze to dehydration.
But a month later, McConnell froze again at a Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Covington. As the media and some politicians began to question McConnell’s fitness to serve, his office released a letter from the Senate physician clearing him medically.
But questions persisted about the fall, including from his home state colleague Rand Paul, who withheld support for McConnell continuing to serve.
“I’ve always been a little unsteady, well before the concussion,” McConnell told Tackett. “These two events happened, and unfortunately they happened right in front of reporters and left people with the impression there was something seriously wrong, which is difficult to confront. So I ended up realizing that I needed to confront it in a more open way than I typically talk about these things,”
McConnell added, “I would describe it as the toughest experience I’ve had since polio.”
With Donald Trump on his way to clinching the Republican nomination, the 82-year-old McConnell announced in February that he would step down as Senate leader following the election in November.
He still plans to serve out his six-year term in the Senate, which expires in 2027, when he is expected to retire.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "‘Violent’ and ‘bleeding’: Sen. McConnell’s fall was worse than disclosed, book says."
