8 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMax Matza
Getty ImagesConcerns are growing about the health of US Senator Mitch McConnell, a top Republican lawmaker who has been in hospital for over three weeks.
McConnell, 84, was admitted for treatment on 14 June, according to his staff. His aides have not given any details about the reason for his hospital stay, or what kind of treatment he is receiving.
His team said on 2 July he is “receiving excellent care” and he “continues to improve”.
On Tuesday, several Republicans said they had spoken by phone to McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history. Their comments came after conservative influencer Laura Loomer claimed without evidence that the Kentucky senator was in a “vegetative state”.
Several US media outlets have reported that 911 emergency calls made from McConnell’s home had reported an “unconscious” person who was suffering from “cardiac arrest”.
The calls also indicated that CPR was being done to the patient. McConnell, who has served in the Senate for more than 40 years, is not explicitly named in the recording.
On Tuesday, Loomer, an ally of President Donald Trump, posted that McConnell “is brain dead and hooked up to machines”, and alleged that a “cover-up” was taking place. She also criticised his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, for visiting China during his hospital stay.
In an apparent effort to push back against Loomer’s claims, several Republican colleagues released statements on Tuesday saying that they had held phone conversations with the former Senate leader.
A spokesman for Senate Leader John Thune said the two held “a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics including national security”.
A spokeswoman for Senator John Barrasso said the two spoke for 20 minutes, and that McConnell “was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
A spokesperson for Chao also responded, saying the trip was “long-planned”, and that “the Senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the US.”
McConnell’s office has not released any update on his condition since 2 July, when it said in a statement that the senator “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital.
“The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
McConnell – the US Senate’s longest-serving party leader – has faced several health scares in recent years.
He shocked colleagues and congressional reporters when he abruptly froze while speaking during a press conference in 2023, and he suffered a concussion after falling at a hotel in Washington in 2023 that kept him away from the Senate for several weeks.
In 2024, he was injured after tripping outside a Senate lunch event, and earlier this year he was admitted to hospital for the flu. McConnell had survived polio as a child, which he said in a 2020 interview made it hard for him to climb stairs.
In his years at the top of the Senate, McConnell developed a reputation as a wily tactician and perpetual thorn in the side of Democrats via the use of arcane procedures and blunt political force.
In one of his most consequential moves in 2016, he held up President Barack Obama’s US Supreme Court nomination, allowing Trump to instead appoint a conservative justice when he took office the next year.
Despite supporting much of Trump’s agenda during his first administration, McConnell has become a more vocal critic of the president in his second term.
McConnell had previously announced that he would not seek re-election once his term expires in January 2027. In the event of an early vacancy, Kentucky law requires that a special election be held to choose a temporary replacement.
United StatesUS politicsMitch McConnell
About The Author
