McConnell Returns to Senate as Staff Bars Video of Brief Remarks

Evan Vucci/Reuters Reporters were told they could not record Mitch McConnell speaking during the 84-year-old senator’s first public appearance in 92 days.

The Kentucky senator returned to the Senate on Monday for the first time since he was hospitalized in mid-June, with rumors about the full extent of the Republican’s condition swirling for months.

After being wheeled into the Capitol from his D.C. home, McConnell appeared before reporters to deliver a brief statement before going to vote on the Senate floor.

However, McConnell’s team told the press they could not film him delivering his remarks, although they could photograph the 84-year-old and report what he said.

“I must admit, after two years, two decades after dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell joked to reporters.

“So I’m glad to see you.

Time to get back to work to finish the job for this Congress.

I’m here to work on the farm bill.” Punchbowl’s senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio revealed on X that reporters were “barred from recording video” of McConnell during his brief statement.

Manu Raju, CNN’s chief congressional correspondent, also noted that McConnell appeared “frailer and his voice slower” when he reappeared on Monday.

“He didn’t answer any questions,” Raju added.

McConnell was rolled onto the Senate floor to cast his vote, where several lawmakers, including Democratic Sen.

Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ohio Republican Sen.

Bernie Moreno, went to greet him.

The Daily Beast’s political reporter Sarah Ewall-Wice noted that McConnell could be heard “softly responding in a raspy Kentucky drawl” while on the Senate floor, but his exact words were impossible to make out from the gallery above.