JUST IN: NBC News Reports Mitch McConnell ‘Face-Planted’ Getting Off Plane 12 Days Ago

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

NBC News sources say Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky took a previously-unreported fall 12 days before the frightening freezing incident that drew media attention Wednesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, McConnell spoke to reporters at the weekly Senate Republican Agenda press conference when he suddenly froze and stood at the lectern motionless and silent for over 30 seconds as his colleagues asked if he had anything else to say, and eventually escorted him away from the podium.

He returned shortly thereafter to take questions, and later in the evening, joked with several congressional reporters about getting a call from President Joe Biden. “The president called to check on me. I told him I got sandbagged,” McConnell told reporters.

Many have speculated the episode is linked to an injury McConnell suffered earlier in the year, in March.

But according to NBC’s Garrett Haake and Sahil Kapur, several sources say McConnell had a much more recent spill while disembarking from a plane at Reagan National Airport on July 14:

McConnell, 81, was not seriously hurt, and was seen at the Capitol later that day, where he interacted with at least one reporter.

The July 14 fall, which has not been previously reported, occurred after the flight out of Washington was canceled while everyone was on board. McConnell, R-Ky., who was a passenger on the plane, had a “face plant,” someone who was on the plane at the time but did not witness the fall told NBC News. That passenger also said they spoke to another passenger who helped tend to McConnell after the fall.

The Senate’s top Republican has also recently been using a wheelchair as a precautionary measure when navigating crowded airports, according to a source familiar with his practices.

The fall came several months after Leader McConnell suffered a concussion after a fall at a hotel in Washington.