Tonight, Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell
speaking out about a health scare
earlier today
where he froze for about 30 seconds
during a news conference.
Here's what he just told reporters
The president called to check on me.
I told him I got sandbagged.
Oh, nice. How are you feeling now, sir?
How are you feeling now?
Fine.
Have you seen a doctor or are you going.
Any idea what happened?
Well, any idea what happened?
I'm fine.
That's dehydrated.
Got to watch those sandbags Inspector.
So,
did you talk to a doctor today?
Folks, we're good.
Thank you.
Sandbag, of course, is a reference
to Joe Biden
right at his commencement address
that McConnell was making.
But here's
what happened to McConnell earlier today.
We're on a path to finishing the NDAA
This week
has been good bipartisan cooperation
and a string of stuff.
When are you going
to make
this change?
Anything else you want to say?
I'm sure to go back to you.
Do you want to say anything else
to the press?
Correct.
I'll take you.
Let's go back to you.
Go ahead, John.
Be glad you
So this is the we're coming up
on the one year anniversary, the IRA.
All right.
So it is obviously hard to watch.
It was a press conference
OUTFRONT now, Dr.
Jonathan Reiner, CNN
medical analyst and cardiologist
who advised the White House medical team
under President George W Bush.
Along with Dana Bash, our chief
political correspondent,
anchor of Inside Politics.
And a long time
you know, you've covered McConnell,
obviously, for many years, Dana.
So Dr.
Reiner, an aide,
says McConnell
felt lightheaded
and stepped away for a moment.
But as I said,
that video is hard to watch.
He stares off.
He's not blinking more than 20 seconds
pass. Obviously, this is
a crucial individual.
What stands out to you?
Well, first of all, you're right.
It's very difficult
to watch somebody have an acute event.
And I think
what Senator McConnell had
was an acute neurologic event.
It's important to remember
that he had a concussion
four months ago,
which is basically
a traumatic brain injury.
And about 10% of people
who need to be hospitalized
for a traumatic brain injury
like Senator McConnell
will suffer
from a post-concussion seizure.
And I think that's what we watched.
The the staring straight ahead
was really very,
very stark
and actually very difficult to watch.
And I think he had the kind of seizure
that is sometimes called an absent
seizure, seizure.
I was glad to see him recover
and be able to talk to the press
about 10 minutes later,
and then this evening,
he even looked better.
So that's good news.
But to me, that's what it looked like.
It looked like he had a seizure.
How serious is an event like that?
Dr..
Well,
the other
striking thing about watching
Senator McConnell
is that he looks so frail now.
You know, until about a year ago,
until about six months ago,
Senator McConnell
was this really vibrant presence.
And now he looked,
you know, almost almost deflated
and very, very fragile.
And his
his injury has really taken a toll.
And that's what happens when older people
Senator McConnell is.
81 years old
when older
people have a traumatic injury and a fall
This is sometimes the consequence
they come out of it,
maybe not the same person.
Jenny, you've covered
McConnell for years.
What are you hearing
from your sources tonight?
I spoke to somebody who spoke
privately to the Republican leader
not long after that incident.
He insisted in private, just as he has
done, along with his aides
in public, that he was fine.
He did, as Dr.
Rinder said,
come back to the microphones.
He kept his schedule
for the rest of the day.
They might even be in votes tonight.
They're waiting to see if there's
a deal on the defense bill.
And I was told that he has a dinner,
that he is still intending
to attend this evening.
But you can definitely see the fear,
obviously, not just for Senator McConnell
but the Republican leaders
who are standing around him.
They obviously wanted
to give him a moment
because they didn't know what
was happening.
But then they finally realized
this is a time
when we need
to move him away from the cameras.
Yes, he
he is older
and he has been vibrant,
but he is also somebody who
suffered from polio
when he was a young boy.
And he is not
somebody who
has always skipped down the hallway.
So yes,
we see a bit of a difference there,
but not a huge difference,
at least to the untrained eye,
compared to what Dr.
Reiner would see and Dr.
Reiner McConnell
did continue his work day
after the incident, as you said.
You know, you're glad that he did that.
Dana mentions
he voted and maybe votes even tonight,
she just indicated.
But you heard
McConnell asked by a few reporters
whether he went to see a doctor.
He didn't answer.
I mean, obviously,
that doesn't mean he didn't
have you know, I'm sure a call was made.
I can't imagine one was not.
But but again, in the context
of what you're describing this,
what you think it was,
is this something that would, you know,
impact his ability to do his job or not
or have more serious consequences?
Well, I
think it speaks
to the intensity of the injury
that he had in March.
And, you know,
he was in the hospital for several days,
and then he went to rehab
for a couple of weeks.
And he didn't return,
I think, to the to the Senate
for about six weeks.
And that really is a long absence
after a concussion.
So I think we really know
that he had a quite a severe injury
back in March.
But as for how he would be evaluated now,
I think it depends on
whether he's had this episode before.
If this episode has happened in the weeks
and months after the event
and it's been investigated already,
which would typically be
with a full neurologic exam and scans, CT
scan and MRI scan,
then there might
not be any reason to repeat it now.
But if this is the first time
he has had an episode like this
where he stopped in mid-sentence
staring into space for almost a minute,
then this would really require
a full neurologic exam and
imaging, you know, today.
So Dana,
what does this mean for his future
Well, in the short term,
nothing, if you believe what he said.
Obviously making a point
to go out to the cameras to make a joke
after he spoke to the president,
as you said, the sandbag joke.
That was kind of a 80 year old.
81 year old to an 80 year old
Something really bad happened
in front of the cameras.
Very inside joke.
But the fact that he's trying to
be feeling now
and his aides are trying to intentionally
say that he's okay
it means that he has no intention
of changing anything,
at least in the near term.
Look, just by reelection
numbers he's not up until 20, 26
so he's got several years
and he is absolutely has been determined
to try to win back
enough seats
finally in the United States
Senate to become majority leader again.
And I haven't gotten any indication
that that changed today.
All right.
Thank you both very much.
I appreciate it.