Mitch McConnell: US Senate Republican leader in hospital after fall

US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has been taken to hospital after a fall at a Washington DC hotel, a spokesman told US media.

“Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner,” the spokesman said.

No further detail about his condition was shared. Mr McConnell, 81, is serving a seventh term in the Senate.

He is one of the most senior lawmakers in the Republican Party and leads the party in the upper chamber of Congress.

Mr McConnell previously suffered a fall in early August 2019 where he fractured his shoulder.

The career politician has been Senate Republican leader since 2007. He has held the Senate seat from Kentucky since 1985.

In a 2020 interview with Associated Press, Mr McConnell described having polio as a child which made him less mobile than other children his age.

He said then he still had problems sometimes climbing stairs.