Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell briefly left his own press conference after stopping his remarks mid-sentence and staring off into space for several seconds.
McConnell approached the podium for his weekly press conference and began speaking about the annual defence bill on the floor, which he said was proceeding with “good bipartisan cooperation.” But he then appeared to lose his train of thought, trailing off with a drawn-out “uh.”
The Kentucky senator then appeared to freeze up and stared vacantly for around 20 seconds before his colleagues in Republican leadership, who were standing behind him and could not see his face, grabbed his elbows and asked if he wanted to go back to his office.
He did not answer, but slowly walked back to his office with an aide and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, a former orthopedic surgeon who is the No. 3 Republican in the Senate. After sitting down in his office for several minutes, McConnell later returned to the press conference and answered questions from the press.
Asked about what happened, McConnell said he was “fine.” Asked if he is still able to do his job, he said, “Yeah.”