Biden says that McConnell's recent freeze up is 'part of his recovery'

President Joe Biden said during a press conference that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's recent freeze up was "part of his recovery."

“I spoke to Mitch. He’s a friend and I spoke to him today,” Biden said during a news conference on the FEMA response to Hurricane Idalia. “And, you know, he was his old self on the telephone."

“And one of the leading women on my staff, her husband’s a neurosurgeon as well,” he continued, according to the New York Post. “It’s not at all unusual to have the response that sometimes happens to Mitch when you’ve had a severe concussion — it’s part of his recovery.”

On Thursday, the Capitol Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan cleared McConnell to go back to work after he froze up during a public event earlier this week. 

The 81-year-old Senator was speaking Wednesday at a press gaggle in Covington, Ky., when he paused for an extended period of time after a reporter asked him about whether he would run for reelection in 2026.

A similar incident occurred on Capitol Hill last month.