U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, photographed holding the Sports section of the July 12, 2026, Washington Post. Elaine Chao, his wife, is seated next to him.
Source: The office of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell
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Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he suffered a fall that rendered him unconscious and landed him in the hospital, leading to a multi-week absence.
McConnell, 84 — who has been absent from the Senate since he was hospitalized on June 14 — also provided a photo of himself with a statement explaining his condition. His absence and hospitalization have been speculated on intensely in recent weeks, especially after it was reported that emergency services responded to a case of cardiac arrest at his home.
McConnell, who is a polio survivor, sought to put the speculation over his health to rest.
"[L]ast month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital," McConnell said in the statement to his constituents. "My doctors have confirmed that I didn't break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital."
The former Senate GOP leader said he also "had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia" while in the hospital. In a photo released with his statement, McConnell is holding a copy of the Sports section of the July 12 edition of The Washington Post.
McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. He stepped down from the leader post at the beginning of this Congress, handing the reins to Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Last week, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear requested that McConnell provide an update on his health and fitness to serve after the senator's office provided sparse updates on his condition throughout his hospitalization, leaving questions about his condition swirling.
McConnell said in the statement that he remains fit to serve, but will not return to the Senate yet.
"As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time. And on the advice of my doctors, I won't be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet," he said. "But rest assured that, in the meantime, I'm not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you. I've been working closely with my legislative staff on current issues, and with my Kentucky team who help me provide timely constituent services across our Commonwealth."
McConnell will retire at the end of his term next year. %!s()
It was revealing that one of the first tributes to Lindsey Graham, a US senator who died on Saturday aged 71, came from Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, a far-right provocateur who recently caused widespread anger by sharing footage of himself taunting bound activists who had been trying to sail to Gaza with aid.
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Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was not far behind, calling Graham a “great friend of Israel and a cherished friend of mine”, and he was quickly followed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described him as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”.
With eulogies also flowing from Nato allies and Taiwan, it was evident that Graham, one of 100 senators in Washington, had a global reach that few could match. He travelled the world to advocate for a muscular US foreign policy, frequently visited American troops stationed overseas and was vital in shaping Donald Trump’s worldview. But his legacy was complicated and often bloody.
“There’s no doubt Lindsey Graham was a central figure in Republican foreign policy circles and played a significant role in broader conversations about America’s place in the world,” says Brett Bruen, a former director of global engagement in Barack Obama’s White House. “He was certainly similar to his old pal John McCain and in many ways he inherited that mantle, albeit not with the same moral clarity that McCain seemed to hold on to despite the way that Trump had upended Republican politics.”
A former air force lawyer and member of the South Carolina air national guard, Graham was a leading neoconservative hawk whose political career came full circle in the Middle East over two decades. In 2003 he was a cheerleader for George W Bush’s war in Iraq. In 2026 he was a crucial influence on Trump’s war in Iran.
After a spell in the House of Representatives, Graham had only been in the Senate for a month when in 2003, Colin Powell, then the secretary of state, made a presentation to the United Nations security council arguing that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was secretly pursuing weapons of mass destruction.
George Bush and Lindsey Graham greet military personnel at Charleston air force base in South Carolina on 24 July 2007, prior to watching a demonstration of cargo loading operation at the base. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP
Graham was vocally supportive, stating: “The Iraqi response of, ‘We have no weapons of mass destruction,’ is a flat-out lie. I hope the world will get behind President Bush in making sure this man cannot continue his weapons program. He either needs to be disarmed or replaced.”
Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost and no weapons of mass destruction were found. Bush’s decision to go to war has been described by one influential thinktank as the worst foreign policy blunder in US history.
Undeterred, Graham argued that Iran was exploiting the Iraq conflict to strengthen its position across the Middle East. For years he promoted policies aimed at isolating Iran and limiting its missile and nuclear programmes. He opposed Obama’s nuclear deal and in 2015 called for pre-emptive military action that would leave Iran’s military “a shell of its former self”.
Those instincts often appeared incompatible with Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, which cast suspicion on overseas military adventures. Yet once Trump’s nomination for president became inevitable in 2016, Graham steadily transformed from fierce adversary to close ally, personal friend and golf partner. He became a frequent visitor to the White House and adviser to Trump on foreign affairs, especially Iran, Israel and Ukraine.
Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator for California, told NBC’s Meet the Press programme on Sunday: “Many of us considered him the Trump whisperer. If we wanted to know what the president’s thinking was or how he might be moved on something, you would go to Lindsey to discuss it.”
Graham applauded Trump’s decision to strike Iranian nuclear sites last year. Along with Netanyahu, he was arguably one of the most persuasive voices in encouraging Trump to go to war in February despite the reported reservations of JD Vance and others.
Lindsey Graham speaks to the media in Kyiv on 10 July after his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Speaking to the Politico news site in March, Graham said he had spent months encouraging the president to view the overthrow of Iran’s leadership as a defining second-term achievement, comparing it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. And once the conflict had begun, he continued trying to influence it and made clear that he had no regrets.
Graham posted on social media last month: “To those who say Iran is stronger now than before, that is an insult to the American military and it is delusional thinking because the Iranian economy is in shambles.”
It was a stance that reassured more traditional Republican foreign policy hawks but caused unrest in the “Make America great again” movement, which had supported Trump in part because of his promise to keep the US out of “forever wars”, similar to the quagmire in Iraq.
Iranian state television announced Graham’s death during a live broadcast in openly hostile terms. “I congratulate the great nation of Iran on Lindsey Graham, the warmongering and anti-Iranian US senator, having gone to hell,” its anchor said.
Graham’s political ties to the Ronald Reagan-era Republican party were also manifest in his staunch support for Ukraine in its long and bitter war against Vladimir Putin. He had visited Ukraine – for the 10th time since the war began – just before his death and announced an agreement on Friday with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of sanctions against Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomes Lindsey Graham before their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 26 May 2023. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters
On Sunday Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, called Graham “a personal friend. A supporter of @NATO and Ukraine. A Transatlanticist. A friend of Finland.” The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he was “a true friend and partner of Germany in the transatlantic alliance. We stood side by side for more than four decades.”
Yet Graham remained loyal to the point of sycophancy toward Trump, who has praised Putin as a “strong leader” and “very smart” and who memorably berated Zelenskyy in their first Oval Office meeting last year. The senator’s sudden death could remove a check on Trump’s impulses and cut off access for foreign leaders who had come to depend on him as an interlocutor.
Bruen, who is now the president of the public affairs agency Global Situation Room, said: “In recent years he seemed to exert outsized influence on Donald Trump, mostly in trying to pull him back from his flirtatious and somewhat misguided relations with dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. It does make you wonder whether or not his departure will remove some of the guardrails in some of the last-minute interventions that seemed to prevent us from doing bad deals with the Kremlin.”
Graham’s unyielding support of Israel and his hawkish approach drew anger elsewhere in the Middle East. He was outspoken in supporting Israel’s devastating war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants.
In May 2024, after Washington paused some military aid to Israel, he urged the then defence secretary Lloyd Austin to “give Israel what they need to fight the war”. He likened the threat Israel faced to “Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids”. He posted on X later that year that “the Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalized population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth”.
In April, Graham was among guests at a British embassy garden party in Washington attended by King Charles and Queen Camilla. Approached by the Guardian, he proved cordial and talkative and mentioned that he had spoken to Trump earlier that day. Evidently unburdened by doubts about the US interventions in Venezuela and Iran, he also cheerfully made a prediction: Cuba would be next. %!s()
Defending champion Nathan Aspinall and James Wade are through to the quarter-finals at the Elten Safety Shoes European Darts Open, with the draw and schedule for this weekend's event in Leverkusen confirmed.
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The 10th European Tour event of 2026 will see 48 players battle for the £35,000 top prize at the Ostermann-Arena from July 10-12, with Dutch Nos 1 and 2 Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen also in action.
Aspinall's title defence kicked off with a 6-1 victory over Ireland's Mickey Mansell. He then came up with a 6-4 win over Ross Smith to make it through to the final eight.
He takes on Krzysztof Ratajski in the quarter-finals.
Schedule of play and results
Sunday July 12 Round Three Ryan Joyce 1-6 Jermaine Wattimena Jonny Clayton 5-6 Luke Woodhouse Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Wessel Nijman Michael van Gerwen 4-6 Damon Heta Sebastian Bialecki 6-4 Kevin Doets James Wade 6-2 Jan Schmidt Nathan Aspinall 6-4 Ross Smith Gian van Veen 3-6 Krzysztof Ratajski
Evening Session (6pm) Quarter-Finals Jermaine Wattimena vs Luke Woodhouse Dirk van Duijvenbode vs Damon Heta Sebastian Bialecki vs James Wade Nathan Aspinall vs Krzysztof Ratajski
Friday July 10 Round One results Afternoon Session Ryan Joyce 6-1 Mio Varila Karel Sedlacek 6-5 Rhys Griffin Dragutin Horvat 6-2 Mario Vandenbogaerde Rob Owen 6-5 Andrew Gilding Jan Schmidt 6-5 Cameron Menzies Mickey Mansell 6-1 Michal Smejda Bradley Brooks 6-2 Lukas Wenig Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-3 Jaimy van de Weerd
Evening Session Kim Huybrechts 6-1 Samuel Price Daryl Gurney 3-6 Maik Kuivenhoven William O'Connor 5-6 Sebastian Bialecki Rob Cross 3-6 Max Hopp Joe Cullen 6-4 Charlie Manby Kevin Doets 6-4 Dominik Gruellich Niko Springer 6-2 Darius Labanauskas Niels Zonneveld 6-2 Daniel Klose
Saturday July 11 Round Two results Afternoon Session Damon Heta 6-4 Rob Owen Jan Schmidt 6-5 Mike De Decker Luke Woodhouse 6-0 Dragutin Horvat Sebastian Bialecki 6-3 Danny Noppert Jermaine Wattimena 6-0 Kim Huybrechts Dirk van Duijvenbode 6-2 Chris Dobey Wessel Nijman 6-0 Bradley Brooks Krzysztof Ratajski 6-3 Max Hopp
Evening Session Stephen Bunting 4-6 Ryan Joyce James Wade 6-4 Maik Kuivenhoven Jonny Clayton 6-1 Karel Sedlacek Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Joe Cullen Gian van Veen 6-3 Niko Springer Martin Schindler 3-6 Kevin Doets Nathan Aspinall 6-1 Mickey Mansell Ross Smith 6-1 Niels Zonneveld
What's happening on Sky Sports next?
The 2026 Betfred World Matchplay will take place at the iconic Winter Gardens from July 18-26, as a 32-player field competes for the prestigious Phil Taylor Trophy.
World No 1 Luke Littler will be eyeing back-to-back titles in Blackpool, with 2024 champion Luke Humphries and three-time World Matchplay winner Van Gerwen also set to star in the £1m event.
This summer's action will also feature the fifth staging of the Betfred Women's World Matchplay, as eight of the biggest names in the women's game battle it out for the title currently held by Lisa Ashton.
Who will win this year's World Matchplay Darts? Luke Littler will be defending his title and you can watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.%!s()
Royal Ascot hero Thesecretadversary scooped top honours in Deauville with a brilliant front-running success in the Prix Jean Prat.
Fozzy Stack's Jersey Stakes scorer had previously fallen short when tackling Group One events, hitting trouble in running at Woodbine last year and also not showing his true colours in both the Newmarket and Curragh editions of the 2000 Guineas.
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However, with his tail up and confidence high following victory over seven furlongs at the Royal meeting, he excelled once again at that distance under Christophe Soumillon who was deputising for usual pilot, the suspended Seamie Heffernan.
Thesecretadversary was still full of running at the line as Aidan O'Brien's running-on True Love finished strongly to make it an Irish-trained one-two. Christopher Head's Nighttime was best of the home team in third.
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Bolt from the Blue too good for Precise at Newmarket
Stack told Sky Sports Racing: "That was great and we thought he would run well but we were taking on two Guineas winners which is tough, especially one away from home and another who doesn't live too far from us.
"It's a great day and I would like to thank the Rupert and Magnier families [owners] for sending us this horse and his last two days have been unbelievable.
"Seamie spoke to Christophe earlier and told him about the horse and Christophe asked if I would mind if he made the running as there was no pace. I said don't fight with him and just don't get beat and he carried that out to perfection!
"This horse has a great constitution and he's very tough. Both Christophe and Seamie have said they see six furlongs as no problem and he's getting quicker. For a horse we thought would get a mile and maybe a little bit with it, he's getting quicker.
"We trained his grandmother [Scream Blue Murder] and she was a sprinter and a lot of the family have been sprinters so maybe he's returning to type.
"We'll see how he comes out of this and get home and we'll make a plan.
"He's been on the go since just before Ascot as a two-year-old and has been to Canada and we've thrown a lot of things at him but he keeps coming back."
The victory continues a fine run for Stack who also sent out exciting juvenile Nola Soul to win at Royal Ascot.
"If you said to me a month ago I would have had two Royal Ascot winners and then a Group One at Deauville I would have said 'stop it'," said Stack. "It's amazing." %!s()
Danny Noppert opened up on the social media abuse he received following his loss at the European Darts Open.
Noppert suffered a 6-3 second-round defeat to Sebastian Bialecki in Leverkusen.
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He posted on Instagram to highlight the abuse he had received, with one user messaging him saying: "Whis [sic] your mom die in [sic] cancer and your family too."
Noppert wrote: "I always strive for the best and always want to win. Unfortunately that doesn't always work out.
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"And sometimes there are those crazy ones who lost money gambling and think they should leave a message.
"And unfortunately I have indeed lost my mother to cancer. And that will haunt me for the rest of my life."
Noppert is one of the leading players on the PDC circuit having reached the final of the German Darts Grand Prix earlier this year.
Since joining the Tour back in 2018, he has also won five Players Championship titles.
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