Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suddenly stopped speaking during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon and was escorted away. He was conducting the weekly Republican leadership news conference when he stopped speaking and appeared to freeze. His colleagues asked him if he wanted to go to his office.

He did not answer, but slowly walked back to his office with an aide and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, a former orthopedic surgeon who is the No. 3 Republican in the Senate.

A few minutes later, McConnell returned to the podium and was asked about his health and what happened. He said he was fine. A McConnell aide said he felt lightheaded and stepped away for a moment. The aide requested anonymity to speak about the senator's health.

After the news conference, Barrasso told reporters that he “wanted to make sure everything was fine” and walked McConnell down the hall.

Barrasso said he has been concerned since McConnell was injured earlier this year, “and I continue to be concerned.”

But asked about his particular concerns, Barrasso said: “I said I was concerned when he fell and hit his head a number of months ago and was hospitalized. And I think he’s made a remarkable recovery. He’s doing a great job leading our conference and was able to answer every question the press asked him today.”

McConnell was reelected easily to another term to lead the conference last year, despite a challenge from Florida Sen. Rick Scott. But several Republicans, including No. 2 Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Barrasso, are seen as waiting in the wings to someday replace McConnell as leader.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is also seen as a potential candidate to succeed McConnell, told reporters after the episode, “I support Senator McConnell as long as he wants to serve as leader.”

In March, McConnell was treated for a concussion and a fractured rib after tripping during a dinner event and hitting his head. He was out for almost six weeks.

In 2019, the GOP leader tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky, suffering a shoulder fracture. He underwent surgery to repair the fracture in his shoulder. The Senate had just started a summer recess, and he worked from home for some weeks as he recovered.

McConnell doesn’t often talk about his private life. But at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he spoke about his childhood experience fighting polio. He described how his mother insisted that he stay off his feet as a toddler and worked with him through a determined physical therapy regime. He has acknowledged some difficulty in adulthood climbing stairs.

Spectrum News 1 political reporter, Julia Benbrook, is in Washington and is reaching out to McConnell’s office to learn more about what happened.

McConnell, 81, entered the U.S. Senate in 1985 and was first elected as the Republican Party’s leader in 2006, making him the longest serving leader in the chamber’s history. 

The Republican leader is one of several senators who have been absent due to health issues this year. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, 90, was out of the Senate for more than two months after suffering from a bout of shingles. And Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., 53, took a weekslong leave to get treatment for clinical depression.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.