It was a strange and concerning sight to see Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell freeze for almost 20 seconds while delivering his opening statement at a leadership press conference Wednesday afternoon.
The silence was quickly broken by murmurs of concern from the press corps and fellow colleagues, with Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) both asking if McConnell was alright.
McConnell had been speaking about the progress being made on the annual defense authorization bill, praising what he called “good bipartisan cooperation” before suddenly stopping midsentence and staring straight ahead without saying another word.
Unnerved by his sudden silence, Senators Ernst and Barrasso – with Barrasso being a doctor – both reached out to see if he needed help.
After some brief discussion between McConnell and one of his aides, they left the room together, prompting further questions as to why he had frozen in the middle of his speech.
When asked about what happened afterwards, McConnell simply responded that he was fine before proceeding to answer reporters’ questions on topics ranging from Hunter Biden’s plea deal to potential impeachment proceedings in Congress.
CNN’s Manu Raju then pressed him further on whether or not his episode could have been related to health effects from suffering a concussion earlier this year however, McConnell insisted that it wasn’t anything serious.
After reassuring reporters that there were no health or performance issues preventing him from doing his job as senate leader, McConnell proceeded with answering more questions like nothing ever happened…but many are left unconvinced.
The video can be viewed here.
