Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was reportedly absent from the U.S. Capitol today.
McConnell is still suffering from the effects of a fall in the Senate earlier this week and missed votes today due to leg stiffness, according to a statement from his office.
McConnell fell outside a Senate party luncheon on Tuesday and sprained his wrist and cut his face. He immediately returned to work in the Capitol in the hours afterward, but his office said Thursday that he is experiencing stiffness in his leg from the fall and will work from home.
Earlier this week, video was captured of McConnell struggling to walk without assistance around the Capitol.
TRAGIC
New leaked video shows the disturbing realization that 82-year-old Senator Mitch McConnell can barely walk after his fall yesterday.
Is it time for him to retire? pic.twitter.com/SwG6P14cbe
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) December 11, 2024
The fall was the latest in a series of medical incidents for McConnell.
He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a downtown D.C. hotel.
He also twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.
McConnell also tripped and fell in 2019 at his home in Kentucky, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery. He had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs.
After 40 years in the Senate and almost 20 years as GOP leader, McConnell announced in March that he would step down from his leadership post at the end of the year. But he will remain in the Senate, taking the helm of the Senate Rules Committee.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune was elected last month to become the next Senate leader when Republicans retake the majority in January.