Nikki Haley calls McConnell freeze ‘sad,’ says Senate is a ‘nursing home’

Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has weighed in on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent public “freezes,” calling them “sad” and warning that the Senate has become a “privileged nursing home.”

Haley, 51, told Fox News Thursday that the longest-tenured Senate Republican leader had served admirably, but the time had come for the 81-year-old and other aging politicians — including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), 90, and President Biden, 80 — to step aside.

“It’s sad,” the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations told “The Story” host Martha MacCallum of McConnell. “No one should feel good about seeing that, any more than we should feel good about seeing Dianne Feinstein, any more than we should feel good about a lot of what’s happening or seeing Joe Biden’s decline.”

“What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country,” Haley added. “I mean, Mitch McConnell has done some great things and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave.”

Haley has repeatedly floated the idea of mental competency tests for presidential nominees over the age of 75, which would affect both Biden and former President Donald Trump, who turned 77 years old in June.

The US Capitol’s attending physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, on Thursday cleared McConnell to go back to work after the minority leader froze up during press availabilities on both July 27 and on Wednesday.

In the latter instance, he had just been asked whether he would seek re-election in 2026.

Reps for McConnell said both times that the Kentucky Republican had felt lightheaded. Monahan said in his statement that dehydration and a concussion that the senator suffered in March after a fall may have caused the symptoms.

Doctors who spoke with The Post on Thursday observed that McConnell’s symptoms were consistent with a partial seizure or mini-stroke.

Feinstein was also hospitalized in March with a case of shingles and spent several months recovering at her San Francisco home before returning to the Senate in May. In February, she announced she would not seek re-election in 2024.

The California Democrat has made bizarre comments to journalists about having never been absent from the Senate — and prompted speculation about being propped up by Democratic allies during her final year in office.

Upon her return, Nancy Corinne Prowda, the eldest child of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was photographed at her side several times.

Pelosi, 83, endorsed Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) for Feinstein’s seat in 2024 after California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to appoint a black woman to the Senate if Feinstein left office early.

Rumors have also circulated that Newsom may challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination next year amid widespread speculation about the president’s declining mental acuity. The California governor has dismissed those rumors.

The Senate will reconvene on Sept. 5 and several Republicans have already discussed holding an emergency meeting to consider McConnell’s leadership, Politico reports.

Biden defended the Capitol physician’s diagnosis on Thursday to reporters, saying he had spoken with McConnell the same day and that he “sounded like his old self.”