McConnell Aide Drops New Claims About Vanished Senator

Mitch McConnell’s aides have provided an “update” about his health that includes no photo or video evidence of the Republican senator himself.

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David Popp, a McConnell spokesman, claimed in a new statement to The Washington Post that McConnell is continuing to work on Senate business during his weeks-long hospitalization that dates back to June 14.

Noticeably absent was any proof that McConnell is doing any of the things that his staff claims he is.

The lackluster update is keeping with a trend from McConnell’s office, which remained silent about his health for several weeks after he was hospitalized. After much speculation about his condition, an update from McConnell asserted that he did not suffer “a heart attack or a stroke,” despite a 911 call mentioning cardiac arrest at his residence.

McConnell claimed he was taken to the hospital after a fall and was “briefly unconscious,” adding that he subsequently “had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia” while recovering, attaching a picture of himself holding the day’s newspaper alongside his wife, Elaine Chao.

McConnell’s staff is led by chief of staff Terry Carmack, who receives an annual salary of $226,000 to preside over this PR disaster. His staff has repeatedly declined to provide further information on McConnell’s state.

It remains unclear when McConnell will return to work on Capitol Hill. The Daily Beast has reached out to his staff about a timeline and has asked whether he will attend the funeral services for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham this week, but has not received a response.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, as well as CNN’s in-house MAGA host Scott Jennings, each claim to have spoken on the phone with McConnell while he has been in the hospital.

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However, some Senate Republicans are expressing frustration that they do not know more about his condition, especially given the party’s razor-thin majority in the upper chamber.

“I don’t know anything about McConnell’s health. I know zero. I’m totally in the dark, and I certainly wish him well and his family,” 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.

Even President Donald Trump appears unconvinced that McConnell is doing as well as his staff claims.

“Well, I don’t hear much. I was, uh, never a huge fan,” the president said, adding, “I hope he’s going to be fine. I—I don’t know if he’s fine, but I certainly hope he’s going to be fine.”

Before his prolonged hospitalization, McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, said he would not be seeking reelection in the 2026 midterm elections.

But a series of health scares and injuries have plagued McConnell’s final term.

He’s suffered apparent medical episodes where he has frozen and stopped talking mid-sentence when the cameras were rolling. He’s had several falls in the halls of Congress, including two in rapid succession, which prompted his need for a wheelchair. He sprained his wrist and cut his face after tripping and falling during a Republican Senate lunch in 2024.