Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, 75, spent the night in the hospital on New Year’s Day with several broken bones in his ribs and face after he took a spill while using a piece of faulty workout equipment.
The senator’s office released a statement Friday saying the incident occurred while Reid was exercising at his home in Henderson, Nevada when, according to an aide who spoke with msnbc’s Kasie Hunt, the resistance band that he was using snapped, whipped back and hit him.
“A piece of equipment Senator Reid was using to exercise broke, causing him to fall and break a number of ribs and bones in his face,” the statement said.
Reid’s office said his doctors expect the senator to make a full recovery. Reid still plans to return to his office in Washington on Tuesday when the Senate reconvenes at the start of the new Congress.
The Nevada Democrat was rushed to the St. Rose Dominican Hospital near his home, and was later transferred to University of Medical Center in Las Vegas where he was admitted overnight as a precaution. Reid was discharged Friday afternoon.
White House spokesperson Eric Schultz said in a statement Friday that President Obama phoned the top Democrat to wish him a “full and speedy recovery.”
“The president was glad to hear the leader is doing well and will be back in Washington this weekend,” Schultz said.
This wasn’t Reid’s first exercising accident. In 2011, the top Democrat returned to Congress with a dislocated shoulder and a black eye just days after taking a fall during his morning jog. Reid’s aides at the time said he took a spill on the rain-slicked streets in Washington after he ran his hand against a wet, parked car and slid, hitting the ground.
Amanda Sakuma