Political commentator Scott Jennings says that ailing Senator Mitch McConnell is preparing to return to work.
McConnell, the senior U.S. senator for Kentucky, was admitted to the hospital on June 14, according to his spokesperson. However, speculation about his health has continued to grow after the surfacing of emergency dispatch audio for a call to the senator’s address.
Jennings said on Thursday’s episode of CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper that he had spoken to senior members of McConnell’s staff and that it “truthfully” appeared as though the 84-year-old politician was “preparing at some point to go back to work”.
“Now, whether that means go back to work soon or go back to work eventually, I don’t know,” Jennings said on July 9. “But I do know he was meeting with his staff today and getting some briefings on a few issues.”
The political commentator claimed that he believes McConnell will finish his term and dismissed speculation that he is dead, “being a vegetable,” or in organ failure as not being true.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Jennings claimed that he and McConnell had spoken for 20 minutes about Senate history, Iran and Ukraine.
Emergency dispatch audio reviewed by The Washington Post revealed that a call was made for an unconscious person at the McConnell’s address on June 14. A dispatcher described the incident as involving a cardiac arrest, and a medic said that CPR was in progress.
McConnell’s name is not mentioned in the recording.
A spokesperson for the senator’s office told news outlets that McConnell “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital”.
The spokesperson added, “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
A spokesperson for Elaine Chao, McConnell’s 73-year-old wife and former transportation secretary, told CNN that her husband’s condition “did not warrant an immediate return to the US”.
Chao was on a long-planned trip to China at the time.
The politician’s health has long been the subject of rampant speculation, with the senator being hospitalized in February for flu-like symptoms.
Also, McConnell was left with a concussion and a broken rib after a fall in 2023. That same year, he notably froze and stared blankly at reporters as they put questions to him.
Following the freezing incidents, Dr Brian Monahan, an attending physician at Congress, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he had conferred with McConnell’s neurology team.
Dr Monahan added that McConnell had suffered a concussion during the prior fall and that “occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery”.
Last year, McConnell announced that he would not be seeking reelection at the end of his current term.
