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Mitch McConnell Hurt Worse in Fall Than Staff Let On: Discharged from Hospital; Heads to Rehab With Undisclosed Broken Rib

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81, has been incommunicado since falling and injuring himself last Wednesday night at a Senate fundraising dinner held at the former Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. His staff released carefully worded statements Wednesday night and Thursday that played down the seriousness of the fall. A former aide played the media on Friday, saying that McConnell was walking around the hospital and was raring to get back to work.

No photos or video of McConnell have been released. Nor has it been stated where McConnell was hospitalized or where he was headed for rehab. Curiously, the statement issued Monday mentions an eventual return home but not to work.

McConnell’s staff let a little more of the truth out on Monday–just like the secretive staff of hospitalized Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA):

Statement by David Popp: “Leader McConnell’s concussion recovery is proceeding well and the Leader was discharged from the hospital today. At the advice of his physician, the next step will be a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility before he returns home. Over the course of treatment this weekend, the Leader’s medical team discovered that he also suffered a minor rib fracture on Wednesday, for which he is also being treated. The Leader and Secretary Chao are deeply thankful for the skilled medical care, prayers and kindness they have received.”

An anonymous McConnell staffer told reporters about how long the stint in rehab may take, “That decision will be made by the Leader’s physicians and the therapists. It is very common to undergo physical therapy to regain strength after a hospital stay and this ranges anywhere from a week to two weeks.”

Previous McConnell staff statements:

Doug Andres, Wednesday night: “This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment”

David Popp, Thursday: “Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event Wednesday evening and has been admitted to the hospital and is being treated for a concussion. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment. The Leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes.”

Former McConnell aide Josh Holmes spread a load of manure to the press last Friday (excerpts):

CNN:

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is lobbying virtually everyone he sees at the hospital for his release and is acting like his usual self, according to a senior adviser who has spent much of the past two days with him.

Josh Holmes, a top McConnell political adviser, told CNN that McConnell has been urging hospital staff to let him go, though he’s remained there for observation since Wednesday night after falling and hitting his head during a dinner at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. Doctors are treating him for a concussion.

Holmes told CNN that McConnell is acting normally and is eager to get out. When Holmes entered the room, McConnell’s first question: “Did you meet with the candidates today,” referring to potential Senate candidates.

NBC News:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is “doing well” and “eager” to leave the hospital and return to work, his longtime political adviser Josh Holmes told NBC News on Friday.

Holmes said he’s “been there the last two days” with the Kentucky Republican, and added that the senator has been walking around and peppering staff with questions.

Bloomberg:

A top adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the seventh-term Kentucky lawmaker is “doing well” and hopes to be released soon from a Washington-area hospital where he’s being treated for a concussion.

The adviser, Josh Holmes, said he’s been with the senator over the last two days.

“A lot of protocols here but he’s agitating to get out,” Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff, said in a text. He added that the minority leader is getting updates from his staff on policy and politics.

Reuters:

U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is eager to leave a hospital where he has been receiving treatment for a concussion since suffering a fall two days ago, a former aide said on Friday.

“Been with him the past two days. Anyone and everyone who steps inside his room wearing a name badge gets asked whether he can leave. Eager to get out is an understatement,” Josh Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff, said an email to Reuters.

McConnell has a limp from childhood polio that makes him prone to falls. He injured his shoulder in a 2019 fall. In 2020 his face and hands were deeply bruised in an unexplained incident. McConnell had heart bypass surgery in 2003.

McConnell has been Republican Leader since 2007 and was Senate Majority Leader from 2015-2021.

The 51-49 Democrat-controlled Senate is down three members: McConnell, Fetterman, 53,–out with clinical depression, and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 89, who is recuperating at home after being hospitalized for shingles.

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