Sen. Mitch McConnell released from physical therapy rehab after fall
By Alayna Treene and Morgan Rimmer, CNN
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday that he has been released from an inpatient physical therapy facility after he fell earlier this month and was treated for a concussion and rib fracture.
“I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the kind wishes. I’m happy to say I finished inpatient physical therapy earlier today and I’m glad to be home,” McConnell said in a statement.
“I’m going to follow the advice of my physical therapists and spend the next few days working for Kentuckians and the Republican Conference from home. I’m in frequent touch with my Senate colleagues and my staff. I look forward to returning in person to the Senate soon.”
McConnell will work from his Washington, DC, home this week and is not expected to return to the Senate before the chamber breaks for their two-week recess, a McConnell aide told CNN.
The Senate minority leader was admitted to a hospital after he tripped and fell at a dinner event earlier this month. He remained in the hospital for several days. After that, he began physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility.
Previously, a McConnell aide had said that the length of the 81-year-old Senate Republican leader’s stay at the facility would be decided “by the Leader’s physicians and the therapists.” The aide said, “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.”
Republican senators who have spoken with McConnell have told CNN that he wants to get back to work. Texas Sen. John Cornyn said recently that McConnell is “chomping at the bit” to return to the Capitol, and Senate Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, noted that he was “anxious” to come back.
This was not McConnell’s first fall. In 2019, he fractured his shoulder in a fall at his home in Kentucky.
The top Republican is not the only absent senator. Across the aisle, 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has been receiving treatment for shingles at home following a brief stay in the hospital. And Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman is undergoing inpatient treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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