Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who froze during a news conference Wednesday and suffered a concussion and fractured rib during a fall earlier this year, reportedly has fallen two other times this year.
The first fall occurred in February in Finland, when McConnell, 81, and a U.S. delegation met with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki, CNN reported Thursday, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
As he got out of a car on a snowy day and walked toward his meeting with Niinistö, McConnell tripped and fell, the sources said of the incident. He dusted himself off and continued with the meeting.
"It was also very icy to the top," said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., who witnessed the incident. "So it could happen any of us."
Budd said McConnell, the longest serving party leader in the Senate's history, appeared to be OK after the incident but "all of us are concerned."
The incident occurred just days before McConnell fell in March at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington during a fundraiser, when he suffered the concussion and fractured rib. The incident forced him to take a nearly six-week hiatus from the Senate.
The other fall, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the incident, occurred earlier this month at Reagan International Airport in Washington while McConnell was trying to depart an airplane. He returned to the Capitol later in the day.
On Wednesday, McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2026, was speaking to reporters when he suddenly froze for about 20 seconds. He was escorted back to his office by an aide and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. He returned to the news conference and said he was OK.
Newsmax reached out to McConnell for comment.
McConnell isn't the only lawmaker who appears to be having issues related to advancing age. President Joe Biden, 80, has stumbled on the steps of Air Force One multiple times and during events, such as when he tripped over a sandbag June 1 at the Air Force Academy.
Also, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., 90, the oldest serving member of Congress, has been in frail health since returning to the Senate in May after taking a health hiatus reportedly because of shingles, encephalitis — swelling of the brain — and Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. On Thursday, she got confused at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing and needed to be told to vote "aye" on a defense spending bill.