GOP Leaders Defend 84-Year-Old McConnell as Governor Seeks Health Update
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 8
GOP Leaders Defend 84-Year-Old McConnell as Governor Seeks Health Update
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 8
Summary
John Thune and John Barrasso said they held lengthy phone calls with Mitch McConnell this week, describing the 84-year-old senator as engaged and eager to return after his June 14 hospitalization.
The outreach followed mounting backlash over McConnell’s office refusing to disclose why he was hospitalized, even after dispatcher recordings reported CPR on an unconscious person at his home that day.
Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s Democratic governor, wrote Wednesday asking McConnell’s office for a transparent health update, saying rising public inquiries and media speculation were unfair to Kentuckians and the senator.
McConnell has not voted since June 11, and his absence could complicate Senate Republicans’ narrow 53-47 majority as they try to move spending bills before the November midterms.
The secrecy has also deepened a MAGA rift around the retiring senator, with Trump allies demanding proof he is alive and framing his condition as a test of Republican transparency.