'I had a tough weekend - I went to CPAC': Mitt Romney jokes that he got a black eye at the conference but he actually had a fall while visiting his grandchildren which knocked him unconscious

  Mitt Romney appeared at the U.S. Capitol on Monday sporting a painful-looking black eye, after he fell over the weekend in Boston. The 73-...

 Mitt Romney appeared at the U.S. Capitol on Monday sporting a painful-looking black eye, after he fell over the weekend in Boston.

The 73-year-old senator for Utah was knocked unconscious in the fall, he said.

He was visiting his grandchildren at the time, and needed 'a lot of stitches'. 

The only Republican to have voted twice to impeach Donald Trump, Romney is a pariah among the former president's supporters and joked that his injuries were from this weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). 

'I went to CPAC, that was a problem,' he said. 

'I took a fall. Knocked me unconscious. But I'm doing better.'

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Romney said he fell over the weekend, while visiting his grandchildren in Boston

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Mitt Romney was sporting a very visible black eye on Monday at the U.S. Capitol

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Romney said he was taken to hospital following the fall and needed stitches

Romney's stitches were clearly visible, as was the bruising under his right eye.

Asked how many stitches he received, Romney claimed he was not sure.

'A lot of stitches. I don't know how many. I asked the doctor how many stitches and she said, I don't know, but it's all through my eyebrow and my lip.'

Romney, who was governor of Massachusetts from 2003-7, has five sons with his wife Ann, and many grandchildren. In 2013 it was reported he had 22.