McConnell released from inpatient physical therapy

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was released Saturday afternoon from a physical rehabilitation facility, where he had been for more than a week following a fall.

“I want to sincerely thank everyone for all the kind wishes,” McConnell, 81, said in a statement. “I’m happy to say I finished inpatient physical therapy earlier today and I’m glad to be home.”

The statement said he would work from home for the next few days and would return in person to the Senate “soon.”

An aide who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity declined to speculate on a specific timeframe. McConnell “will consult with his physical therapists on a return date to the Senate…,” the aide said. “We will be sure to let everyone know when we have an update on a return date.”

The Republican leader tripped and fell March 8 after an event for the Senate Leadership Fund — a Republican super PAC aligned with McConnell and GOP leadership — at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington. He was hospitalized with a concussion and discharged March 13.

Then, McConnell underwent a period of physical therapy at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, according to his communications director, David Popp, where his medical team discovered that he also suffered a minor rib fracture.

McConnell continued to make calls to fellow senators during his time in inpatient rehab, telling his Republican colleagues by phone that he was eager to return to Capitol Hill.

In 2019, McConnell had surgery after he tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky and fractured his shoulder.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and he was re-elected to serve a seventh term in 2020. He was the Senate majority leader from 2015 until 2021, when Democrats became the majority party following the 2020 elections.