Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is “fine,” his office said Wednesday after he was seen using a wheelchair following a fall at the Capitol.
“Senator McConnell is fine. The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work,” a McConnell spokesman said in a statement. McConnell, 82, had polio as a child.
The spokesman added that McConnell is using a wheelchair “purely as a precautionary measure.”
Reporters saw McConnell fall down while he was walking down a small set of stairs leaving the Senate chamber on his way to a Republican caucus lunch.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said he helped McConnell up after he fell as he was walking down the stairs from the Senate floor, telling reporters: “I think he just slipped on the steps. I was right behind him and helped him get back up, and he walked on his own power to lunch.”
McConnell initially left the lunch on foot while he held on to the arm of his aide. NBC News spotted him returning to the lunchroom in a wheelchair shortly afterward.
