Mitch McConnell’s Vanishing Act Hits Major New Milestone

The marathon saga of Senator Mitch McConnell’s mysterious disappearance hit a disturbing new milestone on Wednesday after the 84-year-old senator’s prolonged vanishing act fueled rampant speculation and sparked outrage among critics.

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The Kentucky senator has not been seen by the public in 80 days since he was rushed to the hospital on June 14, and it has now been nearly a month since the Republican’s team last provided an update on his recovery.

He’s been missing roughly the same number of days the House has been in session for the entire year.

And this is at a time when Republicans are holding onto a narrow majority in the Senate, where every vote counts.

The former Republican Senate leader has already missed 60 votes in Congress since his hospitalization, on everything from a war powers resolution on Iran and policies on housing affordability, to the confirmation of new Attorney General Todd Blanche.

McConnell was released from a rehabilitation center on Aug. 6, according to a statement from his office at the time, but his team has offered no new information about how the senator is doing since then.

While the Senate has been in recess since Aug. 8, McConnell’s office has not said if he will return with his colleagues when they arrive back in Washington in just under two weeks.

Ahead of the 80-day mark of his disappearance from public view, his office also did not respond to the Daily Beast’s questions about his recovery or how he’s been spending his days.

However, the Daily Beast visited his Washington, D.C., residence this week and observed a security detail—three unmarked SUVs with tinted windows—parked outside his home, along with two marked Capitol Police cars and officers at each end of his street.

Most of the curtains in the house were drawn, although a first-floor window was open, and there was no mail piled up outside, as there had been when McConnell was in hospital prior to his release.

The last image of McConnell was released by his team more than a month ago on July 27. It remains one of just two similar images released by his office since he vanished from public view more than two months ago.

The senator’s office has ignored mounting demands that McConnell provide further “proof of life” by calling into a media outlet or sharing a video update, as both images put out show McConnell smiling alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, but provide little insight into his health.

However, his aides have continued to speak on McConnell’s behalf at local events in Kentucky. Last month, for instance, McConnell’s state director Robbin Taylor attended the opening of a new housing community in Louisville, where she apologized for the Senator not being able to make it that day.

A written statement praising a local business owner involved in the initiative was also sent on McConnell’s behalf.

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“I’m grateful his vision became a reality and to know that his legacy will continue to make a difference for Kentuckians who need a helping hand,” McConnell’s August 20 statement said in part.

The Senate has been in recess since early August and will not return to Washington, D.C. until Sept. 14.

Kentucky Republican lawmakers told a local station that they expect him to return to the halls of Congress later this month. They said their assumptions were based not on direct conversations with McConnell but on conversations with GOP Senate leadership and his staff.

The Daily Beast asked Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office when the senator last spoke with McConnell and whether they expect him back this month. Thune previously claimed he had several phone conversations with the Kentucky senator, but we received no response.

In the last update released from McConnell’s office on Aug. 6, which was attributed to the senator, he claimed he would “maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home” and was engaging with staff and colleagues.

McConnell has served in the Senate since 1985, making him one of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history.

He has also had multiple falls in recent years—often attributed to having polio as a child—and several highly publicized incidents where he abruptly froze while speaking.

His chief of staff Terry Carmack, who receives an annual salary of $226,850, has been spotted at his Washington, D.C. townhouse numerous times, but he has refused to answer any questions about the senator’s status. Other staffers also ignored questions when cornered about their boss on Capitol Hill.

At the beginning of August, McConnell missed the Fancy Farm picnic, an annual Kentucky event frequented by prominent figures, including politicians. He also missed the annual Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast in late August, which he previously attended.

His office has not responded to questions over whether McConnell has returned to his home state at all in the 80 days since being hospitalized.

His team has repeatedly been accused of a cover-up by critics because of their tight-lipped refusals to share more information on his health or provide additional proof that his health is improving.

After McConnell was hospitalized, dispatch audio recordings revealed that first responders had arrived at the home of a person in “cardiac arrest” where they administered CPR.

It was nearly a month after he was hospitalized when McConnell’s team finally shared a statement attributed to the senator that claimed he had suffered from a fall and was “briefly unconscious” but insisted he did not have a heart attack or stroke. It also indicated he had “a mild case of pneumonia.”