Trump whisperer Laura Loomer has attacked the Republican Party for bringing “vegetable” Mitch McConnell back into Congress.
After a 92-day absence that sparked fevered rumor and speculation, the frail-looking Kentucky Republican Senator, 84, finally returned to Capitol Hill in a wheelchair.
McConnell addressed reporters outside the chamber before entering to cast a vote, which exploded Loomer’s previous claims that his career was over.
A video posted the same day by TMZ showed McConnell sporting a rictus grin as he was driven up to Congress. This led Loomer, 33, to attack the GOP hours later for their pretence that he could continue his work as a lawmaker.
Loomer, an unofficial adviser to President Donald Trump, 80, said in an incendiary post on X that doing so was “worse” than the Democrats’ insistence that all was fine with Joe Biden before he was forced to pull out of the 2024 Presidential race.
Renewing a claim she first made in July, in which she had cited an unidentified source while declaring that McConnell was “officially brain dead” and would not return to Congress, the MAGA influencer posted: “You can’t look at his face and say he’s not a vegetable.
“He’s not even responding to cognition tests. It’s like wheeling a corpse around. Worse than what the Democrats did with Joe Biden to be honest.”
She added: “He looks incapacitated. Brain dead.”
Loomer supplied no evidence for her claim beyond the new TMZ footage and her original anonymous source. McConnell had spoken to reporters shortly before she posted it.
His return also disproved her July assertion that he would not come back to Congress.
During the three-month gap, his aides published two still images but nothing showing the senator speaking or moving. McConnell said Monday that his recovery had been “a long and often frustrating process,” complicated by the lasting effects of his childhood polio.
“I’m still not quite back to 100%,” McConnell said. He pledged to continue physical therapy and attend difficult votes when Republicans required him.
The former Senate GOP leader joked that, after almost two decades of dodging reporters’ questions, he had not expected so many of them to greet him. He said his priorities included the farm bill, NATO and supporting allies opposing Russia.
McConnell delivered his hallway remarks without cameras rolling. Senate officials permitted still photography but prohibited video. He passed without addressing questions about his absence.
Chief of staff Terry Carmack and communications director Stephanie Penn stayed beside McConnell. Sens. Roger Wicker, James Lankford, John Curtis, Bernie Moreno and Dick Durbin were among those who welcomed him back.
McConnell missed 60 roll calls but remained on the Senate payroll. His $174,000 annual salary means he earned roughly $43,500 during the 92-day absence.
The Daily Beast has contacted Loomer and McConnell’s office for comment.
