McConnell Aide Says Senator Is Meeting With Staff as Questions Grow Over Hospital Absence
Key Takeaways
- •McConnell’s spokesperson said the senator continues to meet with staff on Senate and Kentucky matters while improving in rehab.
- •The latest update did not provide evidence documenting McConnell’s reported official activities.
- •McConnell’s office has denied that he suffered a heart attack or stroke, though a 911 call cited cardiac arrest at his home.
- •Republican senators have expressed concern about the lack of detailed public information during his prolonged absence.
- •The hospitalization is McConnell’s second reported hospital stay this year.
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s spokesperson issued a new update Saturday on the Kentucky Republican’s condition and work status as questions continue over his prolonged absence from public view.
David Popp told The Washington Post that McConnell, the 84-year-old senator who has spent weeks in the hospital, remains engaged in official business.
“The Senator continues to meet with staff regarding Senate and Kentucky business,” Popp said. “As the Senator continues to improve in rehab, we will be sure to keep you updated.”
Daily Beast reporter Annabella Rosciglione wrote that the statement did not include evidence showing McConnell carrying out the activities described by his staff.
“Noticeably absent was any proof that McConnell is doing any of the things that his staff claims he is,” she wrote.
Rosciglione reported that frustration has increased as McConnell’s office has offered little detail about his health, aside from broad denials that he suffered “a heart attack or a stroke,” even though a 911 call cited cardiac arrest at his home.
The scrutiny is heightened because McConnell remains one of the Senate’s most consequential Republicans after decades in leadership, and senators’ prolonged absences can affect constituent services, committee work, and close floor votes.
It also remains unclear whether McConnell will attend funeral services for his recently deceased Republican colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Rosciglione wrote that Senate Republicans are growing anxious over their “razor-thin majority.”
“I’m totally in the dark,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said last week. “I do think that at a certain point you have an obligation to your constituents and country to tell them what’s going on.”
According to Rosciglione, the lack of detailed public information has left observers relying on context clues, including McConnell’s mid-sentence freezes in front of media cameras, falls in the halls of Congress, and recent use of a wheelchair.
“His current hospitalization is also his second stay in the hospital this year,” she noted. “In February, he checked himself into a hospital out of ‘an abundance of caution.’”