Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) vowed on Wednesday to keep his job as Senate Republican leader at least through 2024 and to finish his seventh Senate term, which runs through 2026, despite recent health problems.
“I have no announcements to make on that subject,” McConnell told reporters when asked about calls from fellow conservatives to step down as Senate Republican leader, according to a report in The Hill.
“I’m going to finish my term as leader and I’m going to finish my Senate term,” McConnell declared.
His comments come a week after McConnell froze up for a second time while speaking in public.
Wednesday’s statement came after the National Review, a high-profile conservative magazine, called on McConnell in an editorial last week to “step aside.”
“McConnell has noticeably aged since his bad fall in March, when he sustained a concussion and a broken rib, and he should want, for his own sake and that of his colleagues, to go out on his own terms,” the magazine’s editors wrote Aug. 31.
Longtime political commentator Bill O’Reilly, a former Fox News anchor, also said Aug. 31 that “McConnell should resign tomorrow.”
McConnell on Wednesday pointed to a letter from the Capitol’s attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, when asked by reporters to discuss the two recent incidents when he froze while speaking to television cameras.
Monahan, citing brain MRI imaging, EEG study and consultation with several neurologists, said McConnell shows “no evidence” of suffering from a seizure disorder, stroke or Parkinson’s disease.
“I think Dr. Monahan covered the subject fully. You’ve had a chance to read it. I don’t have anything to add to it and I think it should answer any reasonable question,” McConnell told reporters, according to The Hill.
Asked if doctors know the precise medical reasons for freezing at press conferences, McConnell said: “What Dr. Monahan’s report addressed was concerns people might have with some things that happened to me.”
“I really have nothing to add to that,” he said.
McConnell returned to the Capitol on Tuesday for the first time since last week’s incident and sidestepped questions about his health.
"Now, one particular moment of my time back home received its fair share of attention in the press over the past week. But I assure you, August was a busy and productive month for me and my staff," McConnell said in an address to the Senate.
Last Wednesday’s freeze up is similar to the one he experienced in late July, when McConnell suddenly froze for about 19 seconds as he was speaking during a weekly Republican leadership news conference.
Following the first incident, McConnell’s office said he has no plans to step down, noting McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues and “plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do.”