The closest thing to proof that elderly Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is still alive is a row of unmarked Capitol Police SUVs parked outside a Washington, D.C., hospital.
Thirty-seven days after McConnell, 84, was loaded into an ambulance outside his home following a 911 call reporting cardiac arrest, his office is refusing to confirm whether the Kentucky senator has even spoken to any member of his staff in recent days.
The August 3 deadline at which Kentucky law no longer requires a special election to fill his seat if he is incapacitated is in just 12 days.
McConnell’s team is quietly running out the clock.
It has been two full weeks since anyone has even claimed to have even spoken to the 84-year-old lawmaker. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Whip John Barrasso, and CNN contributor Scott Jennings all claimed they had conversations with McConnell during the week of July 6, but offered no proof.
Since then, there has been total silence from McConnell’s team. His office is refusing to answer whether or not they’ve even spoken to the elderly senator.
“It had been a month before anything had been put out, not even an official statement from Senator McConnell,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said. “In fact, I’d gotten two calls from different agencies — not state agencies — suggesting he’s passed.”
The Daily Beast, which has been staking out George Washington University Hospital, confirmed Capitol Police unmarked vehicles are parked outside the facility in what appears to be a semi-permanent security arrangement being funded by taxpayers. The SUVs are there. But so is the silence.
Even Republican lawmakers are now openly demanding answers.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), 71, was clearly frustrated on Tuesday.
“Somebody needs to do something,” Tuberville told Fox News. “Somebody needs to come out and put a little video out.”
“He’s gonna need to come back probably before this three-week session’s over with, because then we’re off for like five weeks,” Tuberville said. The Senate is scheduled to go on vacation starting August 8 and won’t return until September 14.
“We’re gonna need him because the Democrats are not gonna give us any votes,” Tuberville added.
“If McConnell is in as bad a shape as Biden ever was — or worse — he needs to step aside,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted on social media. “This charade can’t continue. We can’t demand of others what we won’t demand of ourselves.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said the silence around McConnell is part of a clear cover-up by the establishment.
“Nothing in Washington ever happens by accident,” Burchett said. “It’s just a cover-up on top of a cover-up. And that’s why nobody trusts what’s going on in Washington.”
“This whole thing is a farce.”