Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) blasted the team serving Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for the mystery surrounding the former majority leader’s physical condition that has him missing in action while crucial votes are pending on the Senate floor.
As questions continue about the 84-year-old senator’s condition after he was hospitalized in mid-June, Hawley issued what Fox News Digital described as a “blistering rebuke” about the McConnell team’s handling of the matter, reminding them of their “obligation to your constituents.”
McConnell has been missing from the Senate for more than a month after a purported fall in his home left him hospitalized and now in a physical rehabilitation facility, according to previous news reports. He also reportedly developed pneumonia in the hospital.
For weeks prior, McConnell’s office was silent on his condition or the cause of the hospitalization.
His absence, compounded by the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), has Republicans down two crucial votes as they seek to enact President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Hawley said he wishes McConnell and his family well and hopes for a speedy recovery, but at the same time said, “At a certain point you do have an obligation to your constituents and the country to tell them what’s going on.”
The absence of GOP votes is impacting progress on bills such as the Trump-supported voter integrity measure the Save America Act, Hawley pointed out.
“To be down a vote … We’ve got a slim majority; it’s not easy,” Hawley told the outlet.
He continued, “I just hear a lot from leadership that, ‘Well, we don’t have the votes for this.’ Like the voter ID, we don’t have the votes for that. Well, we might want to do something about that.”
Hawley said that he too has been “totally in the dark” about McConnell’s condition and said, “I never had any idea about any of his health stuff.”
“I hope he recovers, but I also hope that they get the transparency out there to help people know what the situation is,” he said.
Hawley said he is a “term limit guy,” but also said he is not prejudiced against “colleagues who are older,” pointing out Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is 92 years old, saying, “Chuck is sharp as a tack and spry and all that stuff.”
He continued, “But I do think there needs to be term limits. People just come here and stay forever. And I don’t think it’s what the founders intended; I don’t think it’s what people want. So, I’ve always been a big proponent of a constitutional amendment for term limits.”
McConnell is at the end of his seventh term in the Senate after being elected to the upper chamber in 1984. His current term ends on January 3, 2027. The senator announced in 2025 that he will not seek reelection.
A recently released open letter to constituents from McConnell’s team attributed the senator’s fall to his childhood fight with polio. The letter said that, on the advice of his doctors, McConnell “won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet” while promising to keep everyone updated on his progress.
Breitbart News contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
Read the full article here