Spokespeople for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso said the two leaders spoke this week with Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has been hospitalized since June 14.
Disclosure of the calls — with Thune on Monday and Barrasso on Tuesday — comes amid rampant speculation from conservative influencers online about McConnell’s health and little detail from the Kentucky Republican’s own office about the reason for his hospitalization or his condition.
Thune and McConnell “had a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security,” a spokesperson for the majority leader said in a statement Tuesday.
Kate Noyes, a spokesperson for Barrasso, said the No. 2 leader and McConnell “had a lengthy conversation early this afternoon,” speaking by phone for roughly 20 minutes.
“They caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal and the recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending limits,” as well as the Senate agenda, she added. “Senator McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
Both men previously said they had spoken to McConnell in the immediate aftermath of his hospitalization. In addition to Thune and Barrasso, Scott Jennings, a longtime McConnell adviser who is now a CNN commentator, posted on social media Tuesday that he had also spoken with McConnell.
A spokesperson for McConnell did not directly respond to a Tuesday request for a status update on the senator’s health. McConnell staffers did email news outlets to flag the calls with Thune, Barrasso and Jennings, and pointed reporters back to a Thursday statement that said McConnell “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff.”
That was the latest in a series of occasional updates from McConnell’s staff that have said nothing about why he was hospitalized or remains under medical care.
Suggestions online that McConnell could be in grave condition exploded over the past week after news outlets reported on D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services radio traffic that indicated a person at the former GOP leader’s address was found unconscious and required cardiac resuscitation.
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