NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR

Republican Senator Admits the Truth About Missing Mitch McConnell

Sen. Tommy Tuberville demanded weeks ago that McConnell’s office release a video of the 84-year-old.

Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he is still in the dark about the condition of missing Mitch McConnell several weeks after his hospitalization.

While speaking to independent journalist Nicholas Ballasy, Tuberville was asked whether he is surprised that there is still no video of the 84-year-old Kentucky senator since he was last seen in public after suffering an apparent fall and cardiac arrest on June 14.

“He lives next door to me, but he’s still in the hospital, doing rehab,” Tuberville replied.

When asked, “Is that all you know?” Tuberville shrugged while getting into an elevator and admitted: “I don’t know anything.”

Tuberville also expressed concern that McConnell’s absence from Congress is hindering the GOP’s efforts to push Donald Trump’s agenda and that votes may have to be delayed until his return.

Without McConnell’s vote in the Senate, Republicans could struggle to pass bills in the upper chamber, including plans for a third reconciliation funding bill.

NO REGRETS

Trump Ally Cornered on ‘Decrepit’ McConnell Health Attacks

Farrah Tomazin

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, could also struggle to win confirmation to lead the Department of Justice on a full-time basis without McConnell’s vote.

“Some of them will be pushed to a later date,” Tuberville said. “You don’t put one up unless you got the votes.”

Mystery still surrounds McConnell’s condition nearly two months after he was found unconscious at his Washington, D.C., home and required CPR.

For weeks, the Kentucky senator’s team, led by his longtime, camera-shy aide Terry Carmack, who is on track to earn more than $226,000 this year, fueled rumors about the severity of McConnell’s condition by refusing to issue any meaningful updates and instead repeatedly releasing the same statement.

Analysis by the Daily Beast found that McConnell’s six highest-paid staffers earned a combined $173,200 pre-tax during the opening 50-day period that the senator was missing from Capitol Hill.

After increasing calls for a so-called “proof of life” to quell rumors surrounding his condition, the senator’s team released a photo of McConnell alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, on July 12, sitting upright in a hospital bed while holding that day’s copy of The Washington Post.

KENTUCKY D-DAY?

Missing Mitch’s Governor Speaks Out on Crucial Deadline

Farrah Tomazin

A second, similar photo of McConnell smiling while seated in a chair alongside Chao was released on July 27. It was accompanied by a statement from McConnell’s office saying he is “working hard to get back to my full schedule” in the Senate.

However, there is still no video footage of McConnell speaking or new photographs of him standing, further fueling speculation about how severe his condition remains.

Tuberville himself called for McConnell’s office to release a video of the Kentucky senator weeks ago because “somebody needs to do something.”

Play Video

“Somebody needs to come out and put a little video out,” Tuberville told Ballasy on July 21. “We didn’t get any information today in our luncheon. I don’t know why, what’s going on, but that’s not my business; that’s the leadership’s business, and we wish him well.”

Tuberville said at the time that McConnell was going to “need to come back” before the Senate goes on a five-week August recess beginning Friday.

The Daily Beast has contacted Mitch McConnell’s office for comment.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Ewan PalmerReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.