Mitch McConnell’s Wife Fuels Fresh Mystery With One Detail

A second proof-of-life photo intended to quell conspiracy theories about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health has had the opposite effect.

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The second McConnell photo, of him smiling beside his wife, Elaine Chao, was shared Monday as part of a news release that claimed it was taken a day earlier. However, the Daily Beast’s editor-in-chief, Hugh Dougherty, says oddities with that photo have sent conspiracy theories into overdrive.

“Where is the evidence? Where is the truth?” Dougherty continued. “So they put out a picture. They said it was taken on Sunday. There’s no metadata on the picture. There’s no knowledge of who took it. There is no knowledge of exactly where it was.”

Making things all the more strange is that Chao, who is worth tens of millions of dollars, appeared to be wearing the same outfit in her second photo with McConnell as she was wearing 10 days earlier. That is when paparazzi snapped photos of her leaving the rehab center where her 84-year-old husband is said to be recovering from a fall and a “mild” bout with pneumonia.”

Daily Beast Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles was particularly surprised that Chao, 73, who ran the Department of Transportation during President Donald Trump’s first term, would open herself up to such conspiracies by wearing the same outfit that she knew she was previously photographed in.

At best, Coles said it was an “odd coincidence.”

“Is it possible that Monday’s photo was actually taken a couple of weeks ago?” Coles asked. “Isn’t it unusual for her to be wearing the same outfit now?”

Dougherty answered, “People noticed that it appeared in this proof of life photo that she was wearing a blouse which costs $15 at Chico’s. And that seems off-brand.”

He pointed out that even Jeff Yang, an author and podcaster who is close to the Chao family, said he understands the former Trump official to be the most put-together woman he has ever known. He said that she would “never normally wear this sort of outfit.”

That raises even more questions about why, of all things, Chao would wear an inexpensive blouse twice in a 10-day span—unless someone in McConnell’s office, which has repeatedly refused to answer questions emailed by the Daily Beast, was not straightforward about when the photo was actually taken.

Chao’s behavior in the weeks McConnell has been out of the public eye has also raised eyebrows across Washington.

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Chao accepted an award at a lunch hosted by the Aero Club of Washington this week, during which she spoke but made no mention of her husband. Last month, she took a trip to China, where she met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing just three days after McConnell was rushed to the hospital on June 14.

Amid questions over the timing of her trip, a spokesperson said McConnell’s health “did not warrant an immediate return to the U.S.”—though his health has been poor enough for him to miss 40 votes in the Senate. He has also refused to release a video of him speaking to quell rumors.

Even if McConnell did not provide a video message, Dougherty notes that the senator could ask an actual photojournalist to snap his proof-of-life photos to add credibility to them.

“They didn’t ask the Associated Press or Reuters,” he said. “They didn’t invite a neutral, respected news photographer to come and take this picture. And that person would clearly be a reliable source of information. Instead, they put out a picture they stripped of its metadata.”

Dougherty added, “We don’t have any of that. That’s immediately people saying, ‘That’s suspicious.’ We have asked his office. We get no response. And, you know, the lack of information is the key thing here.”

During the podcast, Coles also spoke with entrepreneur and Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé to discuss the future of sports and technology as part of our America250 series, produced in partnership with PMI U.S., US Businesses of Philip Morris International.

“We’re entering what I call the emotion economy,” Ranadivé said. “There was a French sociologist who talked about the collective effervescence of bringing people together. And as we enter this age of AI, we get more and more disconnected, ironically. And so sports is what brings people together; it’s where people go to celebrate.”

“When I built my arena, I said it was the 21st-century cathedral,” he continued. “It was the town square. So I’m super excited about what sports mean to the world. We just finished the World Cup and the whole world came together for that—it was a spectacular success—so I really see the arena, sports stadiums, as kind of the 21st-century cathedral or the communal fireplace.”