Senator Mitch McConnell Released from Rehabilitation, to Continue Recovery at Home

Longtime US senator Mitch McConnell says he has been released from a rehabilitation centre and will continue his recovery from a fall and from pneumonia at home. "On the advice of my doctors, I'll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I'll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business," Senator McConnell said in a statement. The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican and former Senate majority leader has been out of public view since mid-June, when he was taken from his home to a hospital in the Washington area for reasons that were not disclosed to the public until July 12. At that time, Senator McConnell said he suffered a fall in mid-June that left him briefly unconscious. While hospitalised, he developed pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics, according to a separate statement that his office attributed to the attending physician. Senator McConnell, who now chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said he had been working with his legislative staff on current issues and keeping in touch with Senate colleagues. His lengthy absence, during which his office released just two pictures of the senator — including one some commentators called a "proof-of-life" photo, in which he held a copy of that day's Washington Post — nevertheless sparked calls for the senator to be more transparent about his condition or resign, amid speculation his staff were holding off an announcement to avoid a special election before November's mid-terms. MAGA influencer Laura Loomer at one point told her followers a White House source had told her Senator McConnell was "officially brain dead". The senator had also experienced multiple health incidents in which he "froze" while speaking to journalists in Congress, before being led away by aides.