Mitch McConnell’s wife has broken her silence about the 84-year-old senator’s health weeks after he was hospitalized.
Elaine Chao, who was Donald Trump’s first Transportation Secretary, finally issued a statement about her husband, revealing that she had not even flown to his bedside when he was taken to the hospital after being found unconscious and given CPR.
Chao, the daughter of a Chinese-American shipping billionaire, said that her ailing husband’s health “did not warrant an immediate return.” Her statement was given after days of questions from the Daily Beast, and mounting speculation that her husband was close to death. It also came hours after CNN’s MAGA mouthpiece Scott Jennings claimed that McConnell had called him from his hospital bed on Tuesday morning to chat for 17 minutes.
“The secretary was on a long-planned trip in China to support her family’s philanthropic endeavors,” the statement, attributed to “a spokesperson,” said. “During the trip, she met with a number of people, including the US ambassador. The Senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the US.”
The spokesperson said that Chao, 73, was now back in the United States. Chao’s team did not answer the Daily Beast’s questions about McConnell’s condition, when exactly she returned to the U.S. or who had found her husband.
The statement also did not address how she had secured a meeting with China’s Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing three days after her husband was found unconscious. She holds no official position, and was the target of hatred by President Donald Trump when she quit his cabinet on January 7, 2021, in disgust at the attack on the Capitol.
Chao formerly served as Trump’s transportation secretary during his first term and also served as Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush.
McConnell suffered an apparent heart attack at his Washington, D.C. home on June 14, according to audio of an emergency dispatch call obtained by independent journalist Desirée Townsend. In the audio of the 911 call, first responders were told of “CPR in progress” due to “cardiac arrest.”
The 84-year-old Kentucky senator’s condition has been the subject of speculation since his hospitalization. His team, helmed by top aide Terry Carmack, who is set to make over $226,000 this year, has offered little information despite multiple requests for comment from the Daily Beast.
Stephanie Penn, a spokesperson for the senator, told the Daily Beast in a statement from July 2 that McConnell is “working closely with his staff” but did not elaborate. Penn also said on Monday that the senator’s team would be sure to keep you updated" but failed to answer a series of questions.
Far-right influencer and top Trump confidante Laura Loomer alleged that a “high-level source close to the White House” told her that McConnell was “brain dead,” but the report is unverified.
Other MAGA figures have called the lack of information on the GOP senator’s condition suspicious.
“Biggest cover up ever right now happening regarding Mitch McConnell. I remember when we mocked the Democrats for doing the same thing with Joe Biden,” Loomer said in a post on X.
Former MAGA firebrand-turned-critic Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called McConnell a “vegetable,” questioned Chao’s mysterious China trip in an interview with TMZ DC on Tuesday, labeling the former Trump Cabinet secretary a “communist Chinese spy.”
