{"id":17299,"date":"2026-07-26T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T20:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17299"},"modified":"2026-07-26T01:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T20:14:00","slug":"mitch-mcconnells-staff-gives-new-statement-as-calls-for-transparency-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17299","title":{"rendered":"Mitch McConnell\u2019s Staff Gives New Statement as Calls for Transparency Mount"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5745582\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5745582\" class=\"size-large wp-image-5745582\" src=\"https:\/\/am13.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26160718870772-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"Mitch McConnell\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5745582\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo by Michael Brochstein\/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>A spokesperson for Sen. <strong>Mitch McConnell<\/strong> (R-KY) gave an update on his health Saturday, as calls for transparency mount over the veteran elected official&#8217;s weeks-long absence from Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Senator continues to meet with staff regarding Senate and Kentucky business, including discussions on defense appropriations, foreign policy, the farm bill, constituent services and constituent federal grant requests,\u201d Spokesman <strong>David Popp<\/strong> said in a statement to <em>The Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Popp added, \u201cAs the Senator continues to improve in rehab, we will be sure to keep you updated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell has been absent for about six weeks, ever since being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/shock-report-says-mitch-mcconnell-was-found-unconscious-after-possible-heart-attack-last-month\/\">rushed to the hospital on June 14<\/a> after being reportedly found unconscious in his home.<\/p>\n<p>The prolonged absence has sparked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/where-is-he-mitch-mcconnell-speculation-ramps-up-to-11-after-trump-pal-laura-loomer-floats-rumor-that-hes-brain-dead\/\">conspiracy theories and wild speculation<\/a>, including a post from Trump confidante Laura Loomer claiming McConnell was actually brain dead.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky Gov. <strong>Andy Beshear<\/strong> (D-KY) has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/beshear-calls-on-mcconnell-to-end-the-crazy-speculation-as-senators-spokesperson-gives-update\/\">repeatedly called for clarity<\/a>, after telling the press he has received no direct communication from McConnell&#8217;s office about the 84-year-old senator&#8217;s health.<\/p>\n<p>The senator&#8217;s office shared a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/just-in-sen-mitch-mcconnell-shares-health-update-with-new-hospital-photo\/\">lengthy statement from McConnell<\/a> on July 12, along with a photo with his wife, former Transportation Secretary <strong>Elaine Chao<\/strong>, and a copy of <em>The Washington Post&#8217;s<\/em> sports section from that day.<\/p>\n<p>In that statement, McConnell said that the fall didn&#8217;t cause him to break any bones, nor did he suffer a heart attack, a stroke, a hemorrhage, or a concussion.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell <em>did<\/em> say he was \u201cbriefly unconscious\u201d and then taken to the hospital, where he has been recovering and \u201cdeal[ing] with a mild case of pneumonia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve been able to move from hospital care to a rehabilitation center where I\u2019ll keep regaining my strength,\u201d McConnell wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Post<\/em> noted that &#8220;McConnell\u2019s absence has narrowed Republicans\u2019 edge in the Senate, giving them an effective 52-47 majority as long as he is absent.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beshear threw more gas on the fire when he claimed earlier this month he received two calls from agencies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/kentucky-governor-says-he-received-2-calls-from-agencies-indicating-mcconnell-had-passed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suggesting McConnell died<\/a> while he was in the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In fact, I&#8217;d gotten two calls from different agencies, not state agencies, suggesting he&#8217;d passed,&#8221; Beshear told journalist Katie Couric on her podcast. The Kentucky governor didn&#8217;t go into specifics about which agencies called him or more details of what they said.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/mitch-mcconnells-staff-gives-new-statement-as-calls-for-transparency-mount\/\">Mitch McConnell\u2019s Staff Gives New Statement as Calls for Transparency Mount<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Photo by Michael Brochstein\/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images) A spokesperson for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave an update on his health Saturday, as calls for transparency mount over the veteran elected official&#8217;s weeks-long absence from Capitol Hill. \u201cThe Senator continues to meet with staff regarding Senate and Kentucky business, including discussions on defense appropriations, foreign&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am13.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26160718870772-1200x800.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}