Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has revealed that he received calls “suggesting” that Sen. Mitch McConnell was actually dead during his weeks-long hospitalization.
Beshear, a Democrat, tells Katie Couric that he received two different calls from “agencies” that led him to believe that the 84-year-old McConnell was no longer alive—prompting him to demand answers for Kentuckians who were left in the dark about his weeks-long disappearance.
“It had been a month before anything had been put out, not even an official statement from Senator McConnell,” he said. “In fact, I’d gotten two calls from different agencies—not state agencies—suggesting he’s passed.”
Those calls came before McConnell’s team posted a photo of him in his hospital bed on Sunday, smiling next to his wife, Elaine Chao, and gripping the morning edition of The Washington Post’s sports section.
Chao, who has faced scrutiny over a trip to China during the Kentucky senator’s hospitalization, was spotted leaving the rehabilitation center where McConnell was recovering this week. The former transportation secretary was wearing a mask, dark sunglasses, and a long, seemingly heavy trench coat.
McConnell’s staff has declined to provide details about the rehabilitation facility or its specialties. It is in Washington, D.C., which was facing record-breaking heat at the time, making Chao’s bundled appearance all the more eyebrow-raising.
The long-awaited update from McConnell claimed that he did not suffer “a heart attack or a stroke,” despite a 911 call mentioning cardiac arrest. He said 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.
McConnell’s photo put to bed rumors that he had died or was brain-dead, but it did not quell questions about his well-being entirely.
“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older,” McConnell said in the written statement. “Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct—I can’t help it.”
That statement was not enough to satisfy Beshear, who is demanding that McConnell answer to his constituents and tell them when he will return to work.
“When you’ve been in a hospital for a month, and you’ve missed all the votes, which is your job, you owe your boss, like anybody else out there who works, an explanation of what’s been going on and when you’ll get back,” he said Thursday.
Beshear added, “Everyone deserves a level of privacy on their health, but when you take on these jobs, when you represent the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, you give up some of that. That’s what comes with the territory.”
Many of those calling for answers are MAGA figures. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, went so far as to suggest that the photo posted by McConnell on Sunday was an old one, only to quickly walk back the claim when cornered during a live segment on NewsNation.
Republican leadership has remained less aggressive in publicly pressuring McConnell for answers on when he and his all-important vote will return to the Senate chambers.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune claims to have spoken with McConnell and described him as engaged in Senate business despite his hospitalization. Others, including CNN’s MAGA pundit Scott Jennings, have also claimed to have spoken with McConnell, leading many to question why the lawmaker has not just released a video statement to end speculation.
