Daniel Wolfram
Will Mitch McConnell get to work in Congress again before he is set to retire next year? And is he OK or even alive?
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has not been seen in public for more than ten weeks.
The 84-year-old politician stepped away from public office following a major medical emergency at his home earlier this summer.
Disappeared after stint in hospital
Emergency responders discovered the lawmaker unconscious on June 14 and performed emergency resuscitation after he suffered cardiac arrest. He subsequently spent several weeks recovering in the hospital.
During the stay, his press team shared very little information regarding his medical condition or when he would return to Congress. The prolonged absence has left people in Washington befuddled.
A secret recovery
It took nearly a month for the senator to release an update on his health. On July 12, after mounting public inquiry, McConnell issued a statement explaining that he was hospitalized after taking a fall and experiencing a “mild case of pneumonia.”
The statement omitted any reference to his heart stopping or the CPR performed by paramedics. Three weeks after that initial press release, his office announced that he had finally been released from the hospital to continue recovering at home.
When pressed for an update on Thursday regarding his recovery or timeline, spokesperson Stephanie Penn said she had “nothing to add” to that earlier update. She referred to his previous statement.
The question remains
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell said in his latest statement from August 6.
The Senate is currently out of session during a recess and is not back until September 14. Whether the veteran politician will actually step back onto the Senate floor when proceedings resume is still up in the air.
No one seems to know where McConnell is or if he is even alive. For now, Capitol Hill continues to wait for clarity while one of its most influential figures is nowhere to be found.
