CNN political reporter Daniella Diaz posted a video on Twitter Monday afternoon mocking President Donald Trump helping Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) up the steps after concluding their joint Rose Garden news conference.
"That hand-lock between Trump and McConnell, though," Diaz tweeted out alongside a short video clip of the two men.
That hand-lock between Trump and McConnell, though. https://t.co/xFClDYCmdQ
— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) October 16, 2017
Did Diaz know McConnell was a polio survivor?
If Diaz didn't know before her Monday afternoon tweet, she certainly learned shortly afterward, as many Twitter users were quick to point out to Diaz that the 75-year-old McConnell was a polio survivor who sometimes needed assistance. But more than 24 hours later, the tweet had not been retracted and Diaz had not acknowledged the blunder.
Even one of Diaz's colleagues, CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju was quick to publicly correct her.
"McConnell often goes up a step at a time, sometimes needs railing for assistance. This time, used Trump for balance," he wrote, quoting her previous tweet.
McConnell often goes up a step at a time, sometimes needs railing for assistance. This time, used Trump for balance https://t.co/f4RVd9sBDM
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 16, 2017
What do we know about McConnell's bout with polio?
During a 1990 re-election campaign in Kentucky, McConnell spoke of his polio diagnosis in a campaign ad.
"When I was a child and my dad was in World War II, I got polio. I recovered, but my family almost went broke,” McConnell said in the ad.
He also penned a book in 2016 titled "The Long Game: A Memoir" in which he wrote about his battle with polio and the round-the-clock care his mother gave him when he fell ill with the disease at the age of 2. As a toddler, his mother had to do physical therapy with him sometimes up to four times a day.
"I think it was a — it had to have been an early lesson that tenacity and hard work and sticking to it that I learned from my mother, and I have tried — applied that over and over again throughout my life," he said in an interview with PBS in 2016.
