Seth Meyers has ripped into missing Mitch McConnell’s odd proof-of-life photos.
On Wednesday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, his ‘Closer Look’ segment dug into the ongoing absence of the Kentucky senator, who has not been seen in public for 46 days. McConnell was rushed to a hospital on June 14 after a 911 call suggesting he’d had a heart attack, was unconscious, and had received CPR.
The 84-year-old’s mysterious absence has sparked speculation about his health, which in response has led his team to post a pair of awkward-looking images showing him propped up in a medical facility alongside his wife, Elaine Chao.
At the top of the show, Meyers wove McConnell’s health mystery into President Donald Trump’s car crash keynote speech at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner V2 last week. He made a series of jokes that got no laughs and visibly grimaced as journalists scooped up awards for stories connecting him to the Epstein files.
“The president got a rough reception at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last week, as even the crickets in attendance sat quietly wondering when the jokes were gonna start,” Meyers said. “Trump bombed harder than I did at my first open mic night.
“In fairness, that’s when I was still doing a ventriloquist act with my Mitch McConnell dummy. Mitch, tell everyone what your favorite hobby is.” Meyers then mimicked a ventriloquist’s mouth and said, “being alive.”
“That’s right. Mitch loves being alive so much that every nine days he proves he still is. Show him today’s paper, Mitch.”
There were actually 15 days between McConnell’s first and second proof of life images, with one on July 12, showing him next to Chao, clutching a copy of that morning’s Washington Post.
A second image, again with Chao, was released on Monday, along with a message claiming that he is “working hard to get back to my full schedule.”
Fascination with the senator’s whereabouts has gripped the nation, and nowhere is that more true than in Washington, D.C.
This week, missing persons fliers were scattered around the capital asking if anyone has seen McConnell, describing him as “turtle-like,” “tortoise-like,” and “known for blocking something in the Senate.”
“If you have any information about his whereabouts, please keep it to yourself,” they said. “He would.”
The fliers were the work of the anti-Trump Save America Movement.
“We put those flyers up because this has gotten absurd,” a spokesperson said on Wednesday. “For more than a month now, the senior senator from Kentucky has not cast a vote, has not appeared for the work of the chamber, and has not, in any provable or functional sense, represented the four and a half million people who sent him there.”
He was hospitalized more than a month ago, in mid-June, but despite public demands for more information, his team—led by longtime aide Terry Carmack, who makes over $226,000 a year—has kept announcements to a minimum. By and large, they have offered only the morsel that McConnell “appreciates the outpouring of support,” interspersed with the odd proof-of-life picture.
Speculation has run wild, angering some who claim that it has been caused by a lack of transparency.
Among the enraged is Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who demanded McConnell “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of his capacity to serve, or resign.”
“All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency,” Beshear added in his statement. “Kentuckians are just asking Senator McConnell to be honest.”
The Daily Beast has contacted McConnell’s representatives for comment on Meyer’s words.
