WASHINGTON — As rumors have swirled about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health, top Senate Republican leaders and a former McConnell adviser say they have spoken to the Kentucky Republican by phone in the past two days.
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McConnell, 84, has been hospitalized since June 14, when paramedics responded to an unconscious individual who was experiencing cardiac arrest at his home address, and CPR was administered. He has not been seen since, and his office has not provided details on what led to his hospitalization or when he might return to the Capitol.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke to McConnell by phone on Monday, a Thune spokesperson said. “They had a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security,” the spokesperson said.
The No. 2 GOP leader, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., spoke to McConnell for about 20 minutes on Tuesday afternoon, Barrasso spokeswoman Kate Noyes said.
“They caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal, and the recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending limits,” Noyes said in a statement. “They also discussed the Senate’s July work period, including the need to pass the NDAA and confirm President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence. Senator McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
And conservative political strategist and pundit Scott Jennings, a former McConnell campaign adviser, said he also had connected with the Kentucky senator by phone Tuesday on a range of subjects.
“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital,” Jennings posted on X. “We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.”
The series of statements and tweets from top Republicans close to McConnell come amid rampant online speculation on the left and the far right that McConnell is in critical condition following his medical emergency.
Laura Loomer, the far-right activist and Trump ally, wrote on X on Monday that a high-level source close to the White House told her McConnell “is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back.”
“Mitch McConnell is being kept ‘alive’ by life support machines,” she said.
When asked about Loomer’s tweets, a McConnell spokesman referred NBC News to Jennings’s post about his conversation with his former boss.
However, details from McConnell’s office have been scant. Last Thursday, a McConnell spokesman confirmed the senator remained in the hospital, “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
On June 22, a McConnell spokesman said the senator was “working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery.”
And on June 14, the day of the medical emergency, McConnell spokesman David Popp said simply: “Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care.”
Since that day, more than three weeks ago, McConnell has not been seen in public. His office has not posted or sent out any photos or videos of the senator.
The Senate is on recess this week and set to return on July 13. The upper chamber is slated to be in session for a four-week stretch through Aug. 7, then will take its five-week summer recess. But it’s uncertain whether McConnell will come back during that period.
In recent years, McConnell has experienced a number of health issues, including falls in 2019 and 2023, which resulted in injuries. McConnell said last year that he would not seek re-election this coming November.