Mitch McConnell using a wheelchair after falling down the stairs at Capitol

Washington senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY., Is “fine,” his office said Wednesday, after being seen with the help of a wheelchair after a fall on Capitol.

“Senator McConnell is doing well. The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not interfere with his regular schedule for work, “said a spokesman for McConnell. McConnell, 82, had polio as a child.

The spokesman added that McConnell uses a wheelchair “clean as a precautionary measure.”

Journalists witnessed McConnell fell down as they walked down a small set of stairs leaving the Senate Chamber on the way to a Republican Caucus lunch.

Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., Said he helped McConnell up after he fell as he walked down the stairs from the Senate floor and told journalists, “I think he just slipped into the steps I was right behind him and helped him get backups, and he went on his own power for lunch. “

McConnell originally left lunch on foot while holding onto the arm of his help. NBC News discovered he returned to the lunch room in a wheelchair shortly after.

McConnell, who still serves in the Senate, but stepped down as Senate Republican leader earlier this year, has experienced a wave of health challenges in recent years.

The Kentucky senator fell in December at Capitol after a weekly lunch with the Senate Republicans, which resulted in him maintaining a smaller cut on his face and a sprain of the wrist.

By 2023, McConnell had several episodes where he seemed to freeze – one happened during a news conference at Capitol that July and another happened that August while talking to journalists in Kentucky. During the episode in DC, McConnell was silent for 19 seconds. Earlier that year, McConnell was admitted to the hospital and treated for a concussion after stumbling at a Washington, DC Hotel after an event, McConnell-adjusted Super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund.

In 2019, McConnell broke on the shoulder after stumbling and fell at home in Kentucky.

After the freezing events in 2023, some Republican lawmakers expressed concern about his overall health and wanted him to be more transparent about his situation.

However, the supreme Republican, now chairman of the Senate Committee, brushed questions about his health struggles. After the freezer events, he told the journalists at the time that he had planned to end his senate period expiring in 2027. He has not said if he plans to drive for re -election next year.