moments.
And we will bring that to you at
the top of the hour.
Until then, let's turn
momentarily to our politics
lead.
Senate minority leader Mitch
Mcconnell, Republican of
Kentucky, had another episode
where he froze and was
unresponsive during a news
conference.
It happened today in covington,
Kentucky.
>> -- Running for re-election in
2026.
>> Oh, that's --
>> Did you hear the question,
senator?
Running for re-election in 2026?
>> Yes.
>> All right, I'm sorry, we'll
need a minute.
Senator.
>> Come with us.
>> Okay.
>> Does anybody else have a
question?
Please speak up.
>> -- In November?
>> Senator, Daniel Cameron, do
you have a comment on Daniel
Cameron?
>> The race is going to be very
close.
Far and away the best candidate
we could have nominated.
And as stated, increasingly
Republican, the only Democrat
left.
So I'm optimistic that -- will
be our next governor.
>> The incident is not
dissimilar from what we saw at
the capitol just over a month
ago.
Senator Mcconnell who is 81, was
hospitalized in March after
suffering a concussion after he
fell at a hotel here in
Washington, D.C.
Since then CNN reported on other
instances in which Mcconnell
fell that his office had not
disclosed.
Let's bring in CNN's Manu Raju,
and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Manu, first to you.
Obviously it is difficult to
watch this.
How is senator Mcconnell doing
now?
What is his staff saying?
>> Well, his staff is saying
that he is feeling, quote, fine
and they said that he was going
to consult with a doctor before
he had a second event in
Kentucky, a private event, later
in the day.
But there is no word yet on what
the doctor told him, what the
diagnosis was or why exactly he
froze.
They did say that he paused
because he was feeling light
headed at that moment.
Similar explanation that they
gave back in July when he froze
for roughly 30 seconds during
that news conference.
After that incident happened, I
asked Mcconnell whether or
that's a similar explanation
that they get back in July when
he froze 30 seconds during that
news conference, after that
incident happened, I asked
Mcconnell if that was related
to the fall that he had in
March where he hit his head and
suffered a concussion, broken
ribs, he didn't say that was
the case, simply said that he
was fine.
So not much indicating about
what real response yet, what
the underlying cause of all
this that undoubtedly, there's
concern with other Republicans,
leader soon said that it was
unusual but didn't --
>> I do want to be rude about
it but that's not somebody that
feels lightheaded.
What do you see the video of
this latest episode?
>> Yeah, I mean, what we see is
something that essentially is
freezing, and this is a term
that's often used when
describing various are logical
things.
He's obviously freezing, he's
not saying anything, his face
is sort of frozen in that
position but also, even his
hands, if you look at that
video, his hands are attached
to the lecture, the aid comes
over and gets him to try to
raise his hand and he's holding
on closely.
It's very tightly, I should
say, to the lectern.
There's a lot of things that
come to mind, the more you know
about the various neurological
conditions, the longer the list
is the certain things like
stroke or things like that are
probably less likely, he walks
away and he's moving his arms
and legs, seizure is less
likely, as well, about 30
seconds where he appears to
have some component of
freezing.
I think what really struck me
is that you know his aides
don't seem that surprised by
this.
So we've seen this episode a
couple of times but you get the
impression that it happens more
often and this is something
they are used to dealing with,
and if I remember correctly,
last time it's not even clear
that he saw a doctor after
these episodes, so they don't
seem like they are surprising
so while it's hard to watch,
doesn't seem like this is
lightheadedness, it seems to be
something that is really
ongoing, someone who has
parkinsonian like condition his
medications are wearing off,
something like that, that is
something that can explain this
behavior that there's a long
list of possibilities here.
>> Again, I don't mean this in
a disk compassionate way at
all, my mom turns 81, literally
today, my dad is 83.
We all see the effects of aging
not only on ourselves, I'll
exempt you from that, but on
our parents, but this is
concerning.
The freezing up, that doesn't
seem all that unusual
necessarily?
>> Once you get over the age of
60, one in three people will
have hearing loss, when you get
closer to 85, he's 81, one in
two people have hearing loss.
These questions were pretty
loud, he was able to hear them
afterwards, is this more sort
of being distracted by what
else is going on in his body,
and his brain at that point,
these freezing episodes, is it
buying time in some way to
allow him to not be freezing as
much, so there's different
possibilities here.
It could be just hearing loss,
which again is not that unusual
but it does seem like there's
something more going on.
>> And Manu, with senator
Dianne Feinstein having her
difficulties, not to mention
the discussions about the ages
of both president Biden and
Donald Trump, there's a renewed
conversation about our aging
political class.
>> And Mcconnell's future
itself, I mean he just won
reelection in 2020, the
question is will he run for
reelection in 2026, he's the
longest-serving Republican
leader of any party in senate