A family friend of Elaine Chao isn’t buying Mitch McConnell’s new proof-of-life photo.
Jeff Yang, an author and podcaster, said he has known two of Chao’s five sisters since college. So when McConnell’s office released a photo of Chao, 73, with her 84-year-old husband on Monday, he was immediately skeptical.
“I’ve known members of the Chao family—specifically, Elaine’s apolitical sisters (Grace and the late Angela)—since our college years,” Yang wrote in a Bluesky post on Monday.
Chao is the eldest of six daughters. Yang, like four of the Chao sisters, also went to Harvard University. He has since been a writer focused on Asian American culture.
Yang was unconvinced by the Kentucky senator’s newest photo, which shows him smiling for the camera in a blue button-down with Chao at his side.
“I can’t imagine Elaine, one of the most put-together people in existence, releasing a pic wearing a thin shirt over a visible black bra, UNTUCKED,” Yang said. “Just implausible.”
Yang was particularly bewildered by Chao’s outfit of choice. The former labor secretary was wearing a seashell-printed white button-down, which a reverse image search identified as an offering of the mid-tier American retail brand Chico’s.
Yang said Elaine’s top was the “most implausible aspect of the image,” attaching a screenshot of the same Chico’s shirt that sells for as low as $12 in secondhand online markets.
“HOLY CRAP SHE WOULD RATHER DIE,” he wrote.
Yang declined to provide further comment to the Daily Beast. In a separate Bluesky post urging him to seek answers on McConnell’s health crisis, he wrote that he hasn’t been in touch with Grace for years. Angela died in a tragic car accident in 2024.
“This isn’t the kind of thing you lead with for someone you haven’t seen for a while,” Yang said. “Also, the family is tight-knit and private, and I doubt she’d want to comment. Regardless everything will unravel soon.”
Yang is hardly the first person to raise doubts about McConnell’s proof of life photos.
The Republican stalwart hasn’t been seen in public since he was hospitalized on June 14. On July 12, his office finally released a photo of him next to Chao and a lengthy statement explaining that he took a fall and has been undergoing rehab. Another photo was released on July 27.
Both times, Democrats and MAGA loyalists alike were dubious. Several wondered why McConnell’s office wouldn’t release a video to quell concerns about his health, while others mused that the images were staged.
Jason Chaffetz, a former Republican lawmaker and Fox News contributor, dared McConnell to get in front of the camera.
“Let’s see you say it. A written statement is far different than saying it on camera,” he wrote in an X post earlier this month.
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis made a similar demand on Monday.
“If McConnell is doing a ‘strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation,’ then presumably they could release a photo or video of it to prove what they’re saying,” he said on X. “This latest photo and statement just raise more questions about why he can’t do something as basic as call a reporter or post a proof-of-life video.”
McConnell’s communications director Stephanie Penn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Apart from releasing a new photo of the senator on Monday, McConnell’s office also put out a statement from his unnamed attending physician.
The physician’s office’s statement was unsigned but said that McConnell has “maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls” since being moved from hospital care to rehab. It added that he was “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.”
