Mitch McConnell is hospitalized after tripping at Washington hotel
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, had a concussion from a fall at a Washington hotel Wednesday evening and was being treated at a local hospital, his spokesperson said Thursday.
“Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion,” the spokesperson, David Popp, said in a statement. “He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment.”
Others familiar with the events said the accident occurred at a fundraising dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol, which is the former Trump hotel. Multiple Republican senators attended a reception at the hotel but said they were not at the smaller dinner that followed and did not witness the accident.
After his fall, McConnell was taken by ambulance shortly after 9 p.m. to George Washington University Hospital.
It was unclear how long McConnell, 81, might be absent from the Senate, which conducted votes on Thursday. A number of senators have been away from the Senate in recent weeks with medical issues. McConnell, who had polio as a child that left him with a slight limp, has had other serious falls.
Before the accident on Wednesday, McConnell had been at the Capitol well into the evening, helping to secure a victory for Republicans: an overwhelming Senate vote to overturn a new District of Columbia criminal code that reduces mandatory minimum sentences for some violent offenses.
The vote sent the measure to President Joe Biden's desk. Biden had initially opposed the legislation, but he abruptly changed course last week by saying he would sign it, a move that McConnell described on Wednesday as “flip-flopping.”