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Almost exactly one month ago, Mitch McConnell was hauled onto an ambulance and hospitalized.
Some of the least trustworthy voices on America claimed to have had extensive, closely timed conversations with him.
Many — perhaps even most — have believed the former Senate Majority Leader to be dead.
Now, McConnell’s office has put out a statement and a dubious photo, claiming that he is alive. Is it true?
PHTOO ONE
On Sunday, July 12, McConnell’s office released an image, allegedly both authentic and recent, featuring the Kentucky Senator.
The photo shows the 84-year-old Republican on a hospital bed beside his wife, Elaine Chao.
Conspicuously, the only real detail in the photo is the sports section of the Sunday edition of the Washington Post.
Though the text is conspicuously blurry, the photo does appear to match the real thing. (It could be a fake image, like multiple previous “photos” of the Senator following his hospitalization were proven to be, though those were crucially not from his office.)
In addition to the photo, McConnell’s office released a statement, allegedly from McConnell himself.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/con…
Mitch McConnell said in his first public statement since he was hospitalized nearly a month ago that he was “briefly unconscious” after he suffered a fall.In the statement, accompanied by a photo of McConnell smiling in a hospital chair alongside his wife.
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— Deborah Lynn (@mrsdeborahlynn.bsky.social) July 13, 2026 at 8:13 AM
McConnell, who vanished from the public eye on June 14 after being hauled away in an ambulance via stretcher,
In the lengthy statement, ostensibly from McConnell, it is clarified that he did not suffer “a heart attack or stroke.”
Rather, the statement claims that he was taken to the hospital after a fall and was “briefly unconscious.”
This statement came out 28 days after his hospitalization. That’s four weeks to the day, and a full lunar month.
The words attributed to McConnell claimed that the Senator had “had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia” but has been moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center.
PHOTO THREE
It is easy to look at those doubting the authenticity of this statement on McConnell and say that this is political opportunism.
After all, if McConnell is proven to have died before August 3, Kentucky can hold a special election to fill his Senate seat.
However, many of the loudest voices expressing doubts about the veracity of McConnell being alive and well aren’t coming from the Left.
Rather, conspiracy theorist and Trump-supporter Laura Loomer and numerous other Republicans, some in office and others with Fox News credentials, aren’t buying it.
“How come Mitch McConnell’s staff won’t release a video of him?” Loomer tweeted. “A photo could have been taken at any time. I call BS. The American people aren’t stupid.”
We wouldn’t advise people to believe Loomer’s word for just about anything. There are few polite words that accurately describe her.
However, there are reasons to question this statement and photo.
Why does McConnell look so healthy after pneumonia compared to a few months ago? Why didn’t he record even a short video to reassure his constituents in Kentucky?
We’ve been leery of definitively stating that McConnell is getting the Weekend at Bernie‘s treatment. Tortoises can live for a very long time, after all.
For now, he could very well be just as alive as he claims. That said, he and his office don’t seem to be very good at proving it. Why could that be?