01:24 - Source: CNN
Raju reports on details of McConnell’s fall and injuries
CNN  — 

GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell tripped on Tuesday, spraining his wrist and sustaining “a minor cut to the face,” his office said in a statement.

The incident is the latest in a high-profile string of health issues for the 82-year-old Kentucky Republican.

“Leader McConnell tripped following lunch. He sustained a minor cut to the face and sprained his wrist. He has been cleared to resume his schedule,” a McConnell spokesman said in a statement.

Senators told CNN that McConnell took a fall in the Capitol, and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN that McConnell is “fine.”

“He is fine, he’s in his office, and any other questions about Sen. McConnell I’ll refer to staff,” Thune said at a GOP press conference where the Kentucky Republican was absent.

McConnell fell while walking from a closed-door GOP lunch at the Capitol to the Senate floor, according to a source familiar with what happened. The source also pointed out that McConnell has always had a weak leg from when he had polio as a child.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is a physician was with McConnell after he fell, also said that the Kentucky Republican is fine and noted that after the incident he “walked back from lunch, back to his office.”

A medical team entered McConnell’s office shortly after he walked inside, and an ambulance parked outside the Capitol. Medics went inside the building and left shortly after.

Francis Chung/Politico/AP
Sen. Mitch McConnell is seen with a bandage under his left eye and a brace on his left wrist after apparently sustaining a fall during a Senate Republican Conference policy luncheon at the US Capitol on December 10, 2024.

Last year, the longtime Senate GOP leader was treated for a concussion after a fall at a hotel in Washington, DC. CNN later reported that McConnell had fallen multiple times that year.

There were also two incidents last year in which McConnell appeared to briefly freeze up while speaking to reporters – once in Kentucky and another time on Capitol Hill.

McConnell will remain Senate GOP leader, until the start of the new Congress in early January.

At that time, Thune, who was elected by the Senate GOP conference to succeed McConnell, will take over.

McConnell is expected to continue to serve in his Senate seat until his term expires in January 2027.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Haley Talbot and Ali Main contributed to this report.