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‘Is Mitch McConnell dead?’: Fears spread after reports on Kentucky Governor getting calls about Republican Senator
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear revealed that he had gotten calls from multiple ‘agencies’ suggesting that the Republican Senator Mitch McConnell had died.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear revealed that he had gotten calls from multiple ‘agencies’ suggesting that Mitch McConnell had died. The Democrat reportedly got multiple phone calls about the Republican Senator passing away before the proof of life photo was published last week.
Beshear made these remarks while speaking to journalist Katie Couric.
Worries have been mounting about McConnell's prolonged absence from the Senate, which had thus far not been addressed officially. However, last week, a photo of the 84-year-old lawmaker was shared holding a newspaper from that date, amid intense speculation about his death.
McConnell claimed that he had been left ‘briefly unconscious’ by a fall, ending weeks of silence from his office about why he was hospitalized, and absent from Capitol Hill. However, Beshear called for greater transparency, during his interview.
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“It had been a month before anything had been put out, not even an official statement from Senator McConnell. In fact, I'd gotten two calls from different agencies - not state agencies - suggesting he's passed,” the governor said.
While Beshear maintained that McConnell was entitled to ‘a level of privacy’ about his health, he needed to be forthright with his constituents. “When you've been in a hospital for a month, and you've missed all the votes, which is your job, you owe your boss, like anybody else out there who works, an explanation of what's been going on and when you'll get back,” the governor remarked on Thursday.
“When you take on these jobs, when you represent the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, you give up some of that. That's what comes with the territory,” he added.
The report on Beshear's remarks do not suggest McConnell has died. It merely notes that the governor got calls suggesting he had passed away, before the proof of life photo was put out. However, the interview, reported on by multiple publications, spread fresh fear about McConnells' health.
‘Is Mitch McConnell dead?’: Fears spread after report
Following the report, one page asked “Is Mitch McConnell dead??? That is the buzz in DC, that he has passed on.” A singer/songwriter, Bill Madden, misinterpreted the Axios report and said on X “Multiple agencies are now reporting Mitch McConnell has died.”
However, the calls from the ‘agencies’ are not new news, and happened last week before the photo was put out as proof of life.
MAGA activist Benny Johnson also wrote “Kentucky Politicians Want to Know If Mitch McConnell is 'Dead’. Multiple Kentucky politicians demand that Mitch McConnell’s office provide convincing proof that the senator is still alive.”
He added “Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie has also questioned McConnell’s actual state of health.”
Notably, Laura Loomer, Trump loyalist and far-right activist, had not been convinced by McConnell's proof of life photos, calling them AI-generated.
McConnell had been admitted to a hospital on the morning of June 14 after a medical emergency at his home in Washington DC. In the statement released by McConnell along with the photo, the Republican Senator said “My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia.”
McConnell is due to retire in January 2027, when his term ends.
