Mitch McConnell confidante Scott Jennings was put on the spot Thursday about his alleged phone calls with the ailing senator.
On CNN Newsnight, Caroline Sunshine, a Disney Channel actress-turned-White House spokesperson for Donald Trump in 2018, doubted Jennings’ claims that he had spoken with McConnell a few weeks after his June hospitalization for a fall followed by pneumonia, and again earlier this month.
At the tail end of a contentious panel discussion about the Iran war and what U.S. intelligence agencies are saying about Iran’s nuclear capabilities compared to what Middle East envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are saying, Jennings asked Sunshine, “Do you not believe the president’s son and his envoy?”
Sunshine, 30, repsonded: “I don’t believe you had a phone call with Mitch McConnell, I’ll tell you that. I don’t believe you had a 20-minute phone call with Mitch McConnell, and I don’t think a lot of people do, either.”
Jennings, 48, replied that Sunshine sounded like “a garden variety conspiracy theorist.”
“How is he?” Sunshine continued. “Have you talked with him lately?”
“Yeah,” said Jennings.
On Aug. 11, Jennings said on CNN that he had spoken to the 84-year-old senator that day.
McConnell seemed happier to be carrying out his rehab at home, Jennings said, adding that he expected McConnell to rejoin the Senate on Se 14 when it returns from break.
“It’s pretty simple. An 84-year-old man who’s at the end of his term had a health issue. He’s recovering from it. He’s trying to get back to work. I expect he will get back to work,” Jennings said.
Jennings also claimed that McConnell acknowledged the “unusual” situation of there being rampant speculation about his condition.
“He told me today, he said it was like, ‘I know this is unusual circumstances. I’m sitting here. The doctors tell me I don’t have any life-threatening issues. It must seem rather strange.’ So yeah, I got the feeling he’s somewhat aware of it, and frankly, somewhat frustrated by it.”
McConnell’s office is led by longtime aide Terry Carmack, who makes $226,000 as the senator’s chief of staff.
Earlier this month, an independent journalist tracked down Carmack in the Capitol, but he refused to answer lingering questions about why McConnell hasn’t released a video of himself or called into a show.
