SILENT BUT DEADLY

McConnell’s $226K Gatekeeper Hightails It From Health Questions

Surprise, surprise: the senator’s staff is silent on his health.

Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff fled from a reporter questioning him about the Kentucky senator’s whereabouts.

Independent journalist Nicholas Ballasy shared a video of himself confronting a fast-walking Terry Carmack, the former Senate majority leader’s longtime staffer, who has spearheaded the silence from McConnell’s team amid his prolonged absence.

In a video Ballasy shared Tuesday evening, the journalist follows Carmack through the halls of the Capitol, peppering him with questions about the 84-year-old McConnell.

“Sir is Senator McConnell going to put out a video?” Ballasy asks. “Why hasn’t he done that yet?” Carmack, who receives an annual salary of $226,000, stares straight ahead.

“Did he auto-pen the document, the letter that was sent out?” Ballasy continued. “Was that autopen or did he actually sign it, sir? Can you address the situation at all about his condition?”

A spokesperson for the senator did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast regarding Carmack’s refusal to answer questions.

McConnell’s staffers have dodged press inquiries in the nearly seven weeks since their boss was admitted to George Washington University Hospital, after details of a June 14 911 call suggested he had suffered a heart attack, was unconscious, and had received CPR.

While the senator’s office has claimed McConnell continues to recover and is “working closely with his staff,” they refused to say on Friday whether a letter sent to President Donald Trump this week was personally signed by the missing Republican—or by autopen.

The July 28 letter, which has McConnell’s signature as well as those of every member of Kentucky’s congressional delegation, urged Trump to approve a request from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for a major disaster declaration following devastating flooding in the state.

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Meanwhile, Beshear himself has repeatedly pressed both McConnell’s office and GOP leadership for answers regarding the senator.

Carmack is not the only staffer forced to dodge reporters on Capitol Hill. McConnell’s communications director, Stephanie Penn, was also confronted by Ballasy last month.

“Can you tell us if you’re going to release a video of Senator McConnell, instead of just the statement that was put out?” Ballasy fired off at a smiling, fast-walking Penn in the video.

Ballasy also reiterated to Penn, who has an annual salary of $106,999, that the photo released by the Kentucky Republican’s staff of smiling McConnell in a hospital bed only fueled the rumor mill.

“A lot of people are questioning if it was a current photo on social media,” he told the staffer, referring to online rumors that the photo was doctored. “You guys going to try to put it to rest and put out a video? Anything you could say, ma’am, to update the public about Senator McConnell’s condition? You have any comment at all about his condition and whether he’s on life support?”

She apparently did not.

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Laura EspositoBreaking News Reporter

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