Mitch McConnell froze and briefly appeared to be unable to continue speaking during a Senate Republican press conference. He was led away by colleagues and returned not much later, stating that he was “fine”. This is not the first time that the 81-year-old has had a health scare. The scene occurred on Wednesday as Republicans held their last weekly press briefing before the August recess, and discussed remaining business including the chamber’s effort to pass a defence spending bill before the holiday begins. Mr McConnell was seen freezing at the podium for several seconds before a number of senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa, approached him and encouraged him to step away. He did so, only to come back a few minutes later. He refused to elaborate on what had just occurred. “Can you address what happened here at the start of the press conference? Was it related to your injury from earlier this year when you suffered a concussion?” asked CNN’s Manu Raju. “I’m fine,” responded the senator. “You’re fine? You’re fully able to do your job?” Raju asked in response, to which the minority leader replied: “Yeah.” Mr McConnell entered the Senate in 1985 and has been the top Republican since 2007. Mr McConnell’s freezing at the press conference is likely to be looked at with scrutiny given the renewed interest in the issues presented by the increasingly advanced ages of many of the members of the upper chamber of Congress. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, in particular, has been the subject of intense criticism on the matter as many have argued that the 90-year-old, who has sometimes appeared confused in interactions with reporters and staff, is no longer up to serving. This is a rundown of Mr McConnell’s previous health issues: Childhood polio He continues to walk with a limp, a residual issue caused by his battle with polio at a young age. When Mr McConnell was two years old in 1944, his upper left leg was paralyzed by polio and he was treated at the Warm Springs Institute in Georgia established by Democratic World War II President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for his own struggle with the same disease. “When I was a child and my dad was in World War II, I got polio. I recovered, but my family almost went broke,” Mr McConnell said in a 1990 re-election ad. “Today, too many families can’t get decent, affordable health care. That’s why I’ve introduced a bill to make sure healthcare is available to all Kentucky families, hold down skyrocketing costs, and provide long-term care.” Since that ad, Mr McConnell has been criticized by his political opponents for working against affordable healthcare. In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was underway, Mr McConnell told the AP that it reminded him of having polio as a child. “Why does this current pandemic remind me of that? I think number one is the fear,” he said. “And the uncertainty you have when there’s no pathway forward on either treatment or a vaccine and that was the situation largely in polio before 1954.” At the time of the AP interview, only 16,000 people in the US had died of Covid-19. As of today, more than 1.1 million have died in the US as a result of the pandemic, according to the WHO. “There’s hope that we’re going to get on top of this disease within a year, year and a half,” Mr McConnell told the AP in 2020. Speaking about his childhood polio, Mr McConnell grew emotional as he said he was “lucky” to have a mother “who was determined to see me walk again”. “Tenacity, hard work and not giving up – my mother instilled all that in me before I was four years old and I think it’s been a guiding principle in how I lead my life,” he added. Asked how his mother could afford his polio treatment, Mr Connell told the AP: “Honestly, I don’t know the answer to that.” He recalled the relief at the arrival of the polio vaccine. “I’ve had a normal life, but I’ve been acutely aware of the disease that I had and the relief that the country had when they found the vaccine,” he said in 2020, months ahead of the Covid-19 vaccine’s arrival. “We’re going to get that relief.” Triple heart bypass surgery Mr McConnell had a triple heart bypass surgery in February 2003 in connection to blocked arteries. The procedure was conducted at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. A fall that caused a concussion The 81-year-old Mr McConnell returned to the Senate in March of this year after suffering a fall that caused a concussion. “Leader McConnell tripped at a dinner event,” communications director David Popp said at the time, adding that Mr McConnell would be in hospital for “a few days of observation and treatment”. The event was at the Waldorf Astoria DC – previously the Trump International Hotel from 2012 to 2022. One of the colleagues at Mr McConnell’s side guiding him away after he froze on Wednesday, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, a physician by training, said at the time that he expected that Mr McConnell would make a full recovery. Mr McConnell also fell at his home in Louisville, Kentucky in August 2019, suffering a shoulder fracture. Read More Mitch McConnell leaves press conference abruptly after appearing unable to speak Kevin McCarthy denies he made any deal with Trump to try to expunge his impeachments Kentucky attorney general can’t explain why he hasn’t used key to his office in three years Mitch McConnell recently ‘fell in airport and was using wheelchair’ before blackout Trump wants to see Biden impeached, and other Republicans are quick to pile on Mitch McConnell’s health history reveals previous issues after briefing freeze

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Kylie Jenner has shared a rare comment about co-parenting with her ex, Travis Scott. The 26-year-old model spoke candidly about her and Scott’s children – Stormi, five, and Aire, one – during an interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine, published on 24 October. When asked about co-parenting with the rapper, she said: “It’s going…. I think we’re doing the best job that we can do.” Scott and Jenner first started dating in 2017 and had an off-and-on relationship until January 2023. At the time, a source claimed to Us Weekly that the pair were “off again,” after rekindling their romance for a second time in February 2020. However, the publication also claimed that the former couple was still on good terms, adding: “This has happened so many times before, they’re known to be on-again, off-again, but always remain friends and great co-parents.” Since their split, Scott has shown his support for his ex. In April, he took to the comments of one of her Instagram posts and wrote: “A beauty.” However, fans came up with a different theory in July, with claims that a reference in his song, MELTDOWN”, was about Jenner’s new relationship with Timothée Chalamet, who she’s been romantically linked to since May 2023. At the end of the song’s second verse, Scott raps the lines: “Chocolate AP and chocolate the Vs got the/ Willy Wonka factory (Vs)/ Burn a athlete like it’s calories find another flame/ hot as me, b****.” The mention of Willy Wonka is seemingly in reference to Chalamet’s leading role as Roald Dahl’s famous fictional chocolatier in the forthcoming musical feature film, Wonka. During her interview with WSJ Magazine, the reality star also spoke candidly about motherhood, and how her perspective on beauty standards has changed while raising Stormi. She also described some of the lessons she’s teaching her daughter. “My daughter has totally taught me a lot more about myself, and seeing myself in her has changed everything. I’ve had so much growth and am just embracing natural beauty,” she said. “I’m teaching her about mistakes that I made and making sure she knows she’s just perfect exactly how she is.” The Kardashians star specified that some mistakes she’s made over the years have included getting “surgery when [she] was younger”. She added that while she’s never gotten work done on her face, she still decided to have a breast augmentation, which she’s previously been open about. “But just even getting my breasts done when I was 19 and getting pregnant soon after, not obviously planning to be pregnant at 19,” she said. “And I was never insecure about myself. I actually was always super confident and loved my body. I was just having fun. I was influenced by amazing boobs and was like, that’s what I wanted to do, and had fun with it.” According to the Kylie Beauty founder, her experiences can be lessons for her children. “I probably just should have waited until I maybe had kids or let my body just develop,” she said about the procedure, before adding that motherhood is about “teaching our kids to do better than us, be better versions of who we were”. During the interview, she also spoke about legally changing her son’s name from Wolf Jacques to Aire in 2023, one year after he was born. “That was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done in my life,” she said. “I’m still like: ‘Did I make the right decision?’” She also explained how difficult it was for her to come up with her son’s name shortly after giving birth. “The postpartum hit, and the hormones, and I couldn’t even make a decision or think straight,” she added. “And it just destroyed me. I could not name him. And I was like: ‘I feel like a failure. I don’t have a name for my son.’ So it took me a while. And then the longer I waited, the harder it was to name him.” Read More Timothée Chalamet compares Kylie Jenner romance to Harry-Meghan South Park episode Gym maths: How to optimise 22 minutes exercise a day according to fitness experts Chris Pratt sparks relatable parenting debate about childhood trophies Gym maths: How to optimise 22 minutes exercise a day according to fitness experts Chris Pratt sparks relatable parenting debate about childhood trophies Jasmine Harman tearfully recalls mother’s struggles with hoarding