Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell appears to freeze up for more than 30 seconds during a public appearance before he was escorted away, the second such incident in a little more than a month, after an event with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Covington, Kentucky, U.S. August 30, 2023 in a still image from video. ABC Affiliate WCPO via REUTERS
Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell froze up for more than 30 seconds on Wednesday during a public appearance before he was escorted away, the second such incident in little more than a month, a clip from an NBC News affiliate showed.
McConnell, 81, was responding to questions from reporters after an event with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in Covington when he froze up, staring into space and not responding to reporters and others nearby.
The incident raised fresh questions among Republican and Democratic members of Congress about some of their aging colleagues.
After being approached by a second person, McConnell resumed speaking but needed reporters’ questions repeated to him and only answered two more questions. The longest-serving Senate party leader in history, McConnell’s voice was shaky and quiet.
He said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, was “far and away the best candidate” for governor, and declined to say whether he would support former President Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president before walking away with a staffer.
A McConnell aide said the senator would be consulting with a physician prior to his next public event. The Senate is due to reconvene on Tuesday after a five week-long summer recess.
“Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today,” McConnell’s spokesperson said.
The incident was similar to one that took place in the U.S. Capitol on July 26, when McConnell froze in the middle of a press conference and had to be led away, returning several minutes later to finish taking questions.
Former President Trump said Georgia officials “insisted” he have a mugshot taken Thursday night during processing at the Fulton County Jail, telling Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that doing so was “not a comfortable feeling—especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
The former president and current 2024 Republican front-runner turned himself in Thursday night at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Ga. after being charged out of District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Trump, in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital Thursday night, said officials in Georgia “insisted” on a mugshot.
“They insisted on a mugshot and I agreed to do that,” he said. “This is the only time I’ve ever taken a mugshot.”
He added: “It is not a comfortable feeling—especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”
Donald Trump mugshot (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
“This is all about election interference,” Trump said. “It all comes through Washington and the DOJ and Crooked Joe Biden—nothing like this has ever happened in our country before.”
Trump said the United States is “doing horribly, but now, it is doing worse because we have become a Third World country.”
The court had set Trump’s bail at $200,000. He was quickly processed and released Thursday evening.
The jail records stated that Trump stands at 6 feet, 3 inches and 215 pounds. The records state he has “Blond or Strawberry” hair and blue eyes.
Fox News Digital has learned his formal arraignment, where he is expected to plead not guilty, will take place sometime early next month.
Trump was charged with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.
Trump and more than a dozen others were charged out of the Fulton County probe, including his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Jeff Clark, John Eastman, among others.
“It is election interference,” he said. “We did nothing wrong at all. And we have every right every single right to challenge an election that we think is dishonest that we think is very dishonest.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. Donald Trump and several allies have been indicted in Georgia over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Willis, on Thursday, asked the Fulton County court to set a trial date for Trump and all 18 co-defendants in the case for October 23. The move was in response to a motion for a speedy trial from defendant Kenneth Chesebro.
The judge approved the October 23 trial date, but only for Chesebro, as he was the only defendant to request a speedy trial.
Meanwhile, Trump retained Steven Sadow, an Atlanta-based white collar defense attorney, to represent him in the Fulton County case. Sadow will replace Drew Findling, who had been representing him in the matter. Findling is no longer representing Trump, a source familiar told Fox News Digital.
This booking photo provided by Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, shows former President Donald Trump on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, after he surrendered and was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Trump is accused by District Attorney Fani Willis of scheming to subvert the will of Georgia voters in a desperate bid to keep Joe Biden out of the White House. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Former President Donald Trump surrendered Thursday on charges that he illegally schemed to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, a brisk 20-minute booking that yielded a historic first: a mug shot of a U.S. ex-president.
He was released on $200,000 bond and headed back to the airport for his return flight home to New Jersey, flashing a thumbs-up through the window of his sport utility vehicle as his motorcade left. A booking photo released by authorities shot Trump, wearing a navy suit and red tie, angrily scowling at the camera, his brows furrowed as he stares into the lens
Unrepentant but subdued after the brief jail visit, he insisted as has repeatedly has that he “did nothing wrong” and called the case accusing him of subverting election results a “travesty of justice.”
“If you challenge an election, you should be able to challenge an election,” he told reporters on the airport tarmac before boarding his plane.
Trump’s surrender to law enforcement authorities, the fourth time this year, has become by now a familiar election-season routine in a way that belies the unprecedented spectacle of a former president, and current candidate, being booked on criminal charges. But his visit to Atlanta was notably different from the three past surrenders, unfolding at night and requiring him to visit a problem-plagued jail — rather than a courthouse. It occurred not in a liberal bastion like New York or Washington but rather in the heart of a battleground state seen as vital to the 2024 presidential race.
And unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, a booking photo of him was taken, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the proceedings.
His jail visit created a remarkable split-screen visual during a 2024 Republican primary contest in which he remains the leading candidate, coming one day after a debate in Milwaukee where eight of his leading rivals sought to exploit Trump’s absence by standing out from the pack.
Trump landed in Atlanta shortly after 7 p.m. and was driven to jail for the booking process. Wearing his signature white shirt and red tie, he offered a wave and thumbs up as he descended the steps of his private plane.
He completed the process in 20 minutes, providing officials as is customary with his physical measurements: 6 foot 3 inches. 215 pounds. Strawberry or blond hair.
The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted. Since then, he’s faced federal charges in Florida and Washington, and this month he was indicted in Atlanta with 18 others — including his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — under a racketeering statute normally associated with gang members and organized crime.
Giuliani surrendered on Wednesday and posed for a mug shot. Meadows, who had sought to avoid having to turn himself in while he seeks to move the case to federal court, turned himself in Thursday. Bond was set at $100,000.
The criminal cases have spurred a succession of bookings and arraignments, with Trump making brief court appearances before returning to the 2024 campaign trail. He’s turned the appearances into campaign events amid a far lighter schedule than his rivals, with wall-to-wall media coverage that has included news helicopters tracking his every move.
The campaign has also used the appearances to solicit fundraising contributions from his supporters as aides paint the charges as part of a politically motivated effort to damage his reelection chances. As Trump was en route from New Jersey to Atlanta, his campaign sent a message saying, “I’m writing to you from Trump Force One, on my way to Atlanta where I will be ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME.”
District Attorney Fani Willis had given all of the defendants until Friday afternoon to turn themselves in at the main Fulton County jail.
Just ahead of his expected surrender, Trump hired a new lead attorney for the Georgia case.
Prominent Atlanta criminal defense attorney Steve Sadow took the place of another high-profile criminal defense attorney, Drew Findling, who had represented Trump as recently as Monday when his bond terms were negotiated. But by Thursday Findling was no longer part of the team, according to a person with knowledge of the change who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
