While Mitch McConnell has not spoken on camera since returning to the Senate this week, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis said the pair spoke, and he called it “classic Mitch.”
McConnell returned to Capitol Hill on Monday after being absent for 92 days, and aides pushed him in a wheelchair as he looked frail.
The 84-year-old was also on the Hill Wednesday and Thursday. But while he largely avoided the cameras and would not respond to reporter questions, Tillis said he did speak with the former Senate majority leader.
“I spent 20 seconds asking him how he’s doing, and he goes right into preserving the filibuster, and who we have to look ahead to do it as we leave, and Ukraine,” Tillis told USA Today.
Tillis described their Thursday conversation as “great” and called it “classic Mitch.”
It was similar to how several Republicans said they had spoken to McConnell by phone during his three-month disappearance after being hospitalized on June 14 and claimed their calls focused on policy and the midterms.
McConnell delivered a brief statement on Monday when he returned to the Hill for the first time, but it was not captured on camera because he gave it in a corridor just outside the Senate chamber, where video is not allowed.
In his first remarks, McConnell joked about dodging reporter questions but said it was time to “get back to work.” He also mentioned the Farm Bill, NATO, and backing Ukraine, according to those in the room.
But since his return, observers have raised concerns about elder abuse and questioned the true status of his health.
The senator has been spotted departing and returning to his Washington, D.C., home in a wheelchair this week, a smile plastered on his face as he is surrounded by staff and security.
He did not respond to reporters’ questions but gave a thumbs-up or peace sign multiple times as he was wheeled about. The senator looked frail and sported a bruise on his left hand.
At a committee meeting on Wednesday about the Farm Bill, McConnell sat silently for most of the meeting. His team and Republicans had to prompt him, as his name was read twice when it was his time to vote to advance the bill. Eventually, he let out a horse “aye.”
Sen. John Hoeven was seated next to McConnell during that meeting and could be seen turned toward McConnell before he voted.
But the Republican senator from North Dakota told USA Today that he wasn’t correcting McConnell when he leaned in and said something to him. Rather, he said he also wasn’t sure whether they were taking a procedural vote or voting the bill out of committee.
On Thursday, McConnell was spotted being loaded into an SUV before a vote in the Senate. He was not captured on the video of the Senate floor as his vote was recorded.
The Kentucky Republican did not participate in the next two votes that day before senators headed out for the weekend.
His team did not respond to the Daily Beast’s questions about why he didn’t participate in the later Thursday votes or where he was at the time.
