Mitch McConnell’s wife is refusing to answer questions on her visit to China and her decision not to rush back to the U.S. after her 84-year-old husband was hospitalized.
Elaine Chao, 73, was overseas when the Kentucky senator was found unconscious and rushed to the hospital on June 14. Emergency crews responded to a cardiac arrest and administered CPR at the scene, according to dispatch audio.
But McConnell’s wife of more than 30 years did not rush back to be at his side and instead was pictured with China’s Vice President Han Zheng three days after McConnell was carried away from his home in an ambulance.
This week, Chao broke her silence with a three-sentence statement attributed to an unnamed spokesperson that said the former transportation secretary was on a “long-planned trip in China” and the senator’s health “did not warrant an immediate return to the US.”
The Daily Beast sent Chao a list of questions seeking details about her visit to China, who else she met with, the work she was doing, and when she arrived there, but the inquiry was met with silence.
In her brief statement on Tuesday, the spokesperson said the trip was to “support her family’s philanthropic endeavors.” It stated she met with “a number of people, including the US ambassador.”
Chao’s meeting with China’s vice president in Beijing on June 17 was shared by the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., which said Han “urged further efforts to strengthen China-U.S. relations” during their sit-down.
Chao did not address the nature of their meeting or how it came about in response to the Daily Beast’s questions.
The former transportation secretary, who served in the first Trump administration as well as under President George W. Bush as labor secretary, also visited Shanghai Jia Tong University on the morning of June 12, two days before the senator’s hospitalization.
One of the buildings at the university, of which her father is an alumnus, is named in honor of her mother, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, following a $5 million donation from her family.
Chao’s father is billionaire shipping magnate James S.C. Chao, who moved to the U.S. in 1958 and soon after founded the international shipping company Foremost Group.
While Chao’s statement noted her visit was in support of her family’s “philanthropic endeavors,” her spokesperson did not provide further details. Chao is now back in the U.S., but it is not clear when exactly she returned.
McConnell has been in the hospital for more than three weeks, and his staff has provided almost no updates on his condition besides claiming in a brief statement more than a week ago, on July 2, that he was improving and working with staff.
McConnell’s staff is led by longtime aide Terry Carmack, who is on track to earn more than $226,000 this year.
The offices of Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Whip John Barrasso insisted on Tuesday that the two Republican leaders had each spoken separately to McConnell by phone this week and talked about policy.
CNN contributor Scott Jennings also doubled down on his claim that he spoke to McConnell for nearly 20 minutes earlier this week during his television appearances on Thursday, during which he indicated that the Kentucky senator, whom he once worked for, was meeting with staff.
But MAGA Republicans have not been buying their claims about McConnell’s condition and have been demanding “proof of life” evidence that the senator is not “brain dead.”
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also sent a letter this week directly to McConnell demanding answers about his health, amid rampant speculation.
Chao’s spokesperson did not elaborate on why McConnell’s hospitalization did not warrant her immediate return to the U.S. They’ve provided no details on how she learned about her husband’s medical emergency, who found the senator, or whether she had spoken to him after he was hospitalized while she was still traveling overseas.
This is not the first time McConnell’s health has raised concerns. He was briefly hospitalized in February this year with “flu-like” symptoms.
The former Senate majority leader also spent more than a month recovering first in a hospital and then at home after he fell and suffered a concussion in 2023. Just months later, he had two separate episodes where he froze on camera while speaking.
Since then, the senator has tripped and fallen on several occasions, including once on camera on Capitol Hill. He is often seen with aides who help him navigate the halls or push him in a wheelchair.
More than three weeks after he was hospitalized, a newly released video, obtained and verified by CNN, appears to show McConnell being taken away by an ambulance after he was found unconscious on June 14.
In the video, emergency responders lift what appears to be the senator on a stretcher into the back of an ambulance, but McConnell’s face is not visible.
Another ambulance, a fire truck, and Capitol Police officers were also on the scene, a neighbor told CNN. A separate witness noted that McConnell was not wearing an oxygen mask.
