A Republican senator has offered a fresh update on Mitch McConnell’s condition that raises more questions about why he is staying out of public view.
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Capito was confronted about her 84-year-old colleague’s prolonged absence by reporter Nicholas Ballasy on Saturday.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on with McConnell? What his condition is right now? Have you heard an update?” Ballasy asked Capito in a video shared to social media.
“I mean, I think, obviously, the public information, the information that I have, is that Senator McConnell is recovering and is, uh, healing, and is in a, uh, rehabilitation hospital,” Capito, 72, said. “I talked with somebody yesterday who visited him, and said that he’s clear-minded and he just needs to get stronger.”
Capito did not identify who she said had spoken to McConnell in the hospital, nor did she specify when the visit took place.
When pressed on whether she would visit her GOP colleague herself, Capito said she “might wait until he asks for visitors.”
“I think, you know, anyone who’s been in the hospital or in a rehab facility, um, being visited, I think, is a pretty sensitive topic,” she added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to both McConnell’s and Capito’s offices for comment.
McConnell was hospitalized over a month ago on June 14, after what his team said was a fall that left him “briefly unconscious.” However, in a statement, his staffers alleged that the Kentucky senator had not suffered “a stroke or a heart attack.”
A public EMS dispatch call found that emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s D.C. residence that same day. During the call, the dispatcher called in a “cardiac arrest” and a medic at the scene said that there was CPR “in progress.”
The senator’s staff, led by longtime aide Terry Carmack, who makes over $226,000 a year, shared a photo of McConnell in the hospital alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, on July 12. However, the image’s validity drew scrutiny even from McConnell’s fellow Republicans.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson appeared on Newsmax shortly after the photo’s release and said he had heard it was an “older photo,” before doubling back on his claims the following day.
McConnell’s team has refused to clarify any information about his condition beyond that the senator has been meeting with staffers “regarding Kentucky and Senate business” and that he continues to recover in the hospital, though they have not provided any tangible proof since the July 12 photo. His spokesman said on Saturday that he was meeting with staff about “discussions on defense appropriations, foreign policy, the farm bill, constituent services and constituent federal grant requests.”
Those calling for more transparency on the senator’s health, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, have urged him to release a short video or make a media appearance to ease public concerns.
The senator’s press secretary Stephanie Penn, who makes $106,999 a year, was also confronted by Ballasy on Thursday, but remained silent when asked about her boss’s condition.
