Washington DC - Senator Ted Cruz offered well-wishes for Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, but would not say directly if he thinks the 81-year-old can lead Senate Republicans after his latest health scare.

"My prayers continue to be with Mitch," Cruz said after the Senate minority leader met with fellow Republicans over lunch for the first time since their August recess.

"He's stubborn as a mule and I have every hope that he will recover to full strength."

Pressed on whether McConnell is capable of serving as leader now, Cruz said: "He's the leader right now."

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McConnell, who suffered a concussion after falling earlier this year, has frozen up twice in the past two months while on camera.

In a Newsmax interview after the second incident last week, Cruz called the video "troubling" and "frightening."

McConnell has sought to brush aside the incidents and said he isn't going anywhere.

"I'm going to finish my term as leader and I'm going to finish my Senate term," he vowed in his post-lunch news conference.

Some GOP senators, however, have started questioning whether he is up to leading their group through the 2024 elections.

Texas' senior senator, John Cornyn, who is close to McConnell and hopes to someday succeed him as leader, has downplayed the severity of McConnell's freezing incidents and insisted he's up to the job.

"Unfortunately the two instances that occurred, occurred on camera talking to members of the press, so I think people have the idea that this is a bigger deal than I now believe it is," he said.

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Cornyn said he was not aware of any other concerning incidents beyond the two caught on camera.

"It appears that it's harder to recover from a concussion when you're 81 years old than maybe he thought, but he feels like he's up to the task," Cornyn said.

Cruz came to McConnell's defense, after a fashion, when asked whether the recent incidents undermine Republican frequent critiques of Biden's age and mental health.

"The last 48 hours, I've probably heard a hundred questions from reporters about Mitch McConnell from an awful lot of press outlets that say nary a word about Biden's very serious, diminished capacity," Cruz said.

Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, wrote a letter on August 31 stating he had consulted with McConnell and his neurology team and determined he is medically clear to continue with his planned schedule.

"Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration," Monahan wrote.

Monahan stated in another letter released this week that McConnell had undergone several evaluations and there was no evidence of a seizure disorder, stroke or a movement disorder such as Parkinson's.

But Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, an eye doctor, suggested more is going on.

"It's an inadequate explanation to say this is dehydration," Paul told reporters,

"I've practiced medicine for 25 years and it doesn't look like dehydration to me. It looks like a focal neurologic event."

Cornyn, meanwhile, said he has urged McConnell to be transparent about his health and praised his decision to release Monahan's letter, to rule out possibilities that had been the subject of speculation.

"He tends to be very close to the vest on things. But he was very forthcoming and I think answered people's questions," Cornyn said of McConnell, after the Wednesday lunch.