A Republican lawmaker has said something surprising about Sen.Mitch McConnell’s health, saying he’s not sure if the Kentucky senator is still alive.
Republican Rep.
Marlin Stutzman said this during an interview on NewsNation after being directly asked if he thinks McConnell, who is 84 years old, has passed away.
Stutzman said, “What I’ve heard and seen from some friends is that he’s clearly not doing well, but I don’t know if he’s still alive or if he has passed away.”
Stutzman, who represents northeast Indiana, criticized the lack of information about McConnell’s three-week hospitalization.
He called for answers from the McConnell team, led by his longtime, private aide, Terry Carmack, who is set to earn over $226,000 this year.
Unlike other Republicans, including CNN’s MAGA commentator Scott Jennings, a former McConnell aide who said he spoke with his former boss for 17 minutes this week, Stutzman said he hasn’t heard from McConnell.
He warned that McConnell’s absence could hurt the Republican Party once Congress returns on July 13.
“His voters deserve to know where he is,” Stutzman said.
“The governor of Kentucky has every right to ask after three weeks with no word.As a Republican, we need to hold our own party accountable.The fact that we haven’t heard anything about Senator McConnell is very worrying.”
With McConnell present, Republicans have a six-seat majority in the Senate.
Stutzman added, “It’s important for the Republican Party and for getting the bills we want passed in the Senate that we have a senator from Kentucky voting in the Senate chamber.”
McConnell has been missing since he was found unconscious and received CPR after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Washington on June 14.
When 911 audio from the event was released by an independent journalist, McConnell’s team claimed he was still working with his aides on Senate business but would not be voting that week.
This hasn’t stopped rumors that McConnell is in serious condition or even “brain dead,” as claimed by far-right figure Laura Loomer.
The mystery around McConnell has also been fueled by his wife, Elaine Chao, who told the Daily Beast this week that she didn’t fly to his bedside when he collapsed last month.
Chao, who was Trump’s first Transportation Secretary, said her husband’s health “did not warrant an immediate return” from a trip to China she was on.
A spokesperson for Chao said she returned to the U.S.
by Tuesday but refused to answer questions about McConnell’s condition, when she came back, or who found her husband.
Meanwhile, a report revealed that three days after McConnell was hospitalized, his wife was meeting with China’s Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing.
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