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“Somebody needs to come out and put a little video out,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville said of his GOP colleague
NEED TO KNOW
- Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville called for updates on his colleague Mitch McConnell’s health as rumors and speculation continue
- On Sunday, July 12, McConnell broke his silence on his month-long hospitalization, though he remains out of the public eye
- The Kentucky senator shared at the time that he did not have a timeline for his return to Capitol Hill after suffering a fall on June 14 that left him “briefly unconscious” then developing pneumonia during his recovery
A Republican senator is calling on Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s team to be more transparent about his health after several days of radio silence since McConnell shared his only statement about a weeks-long hospitalization.
“Somebody needs to do something. Somebody needs to come out and put a little video out,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville told a reporter on Tuesday, July 21. “We didn’t get any information today in our [Senate GOP] luncheon. I don’t know why, what’s going on, but that’s not my business; that’s the leadership’s business, and we wish him well.”
“Hopefully he gets over whatever happened. He’s had a tough couple of years, you know, from falling, hitting these hard floors and all that,” Tuberville, 71, continued.
When asked how much longer members of the Senate should wait until demanding for something to be done about McConnell’s prolonged absence, Tuberville said less than a month.
“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. “We’re gonna need him because the Democrats not gonna give us any votes.”
The Senate is set to begin its summer recess on Aug. 8 and won’t reconvene until Sept. 14. Republicans hold a very slim majority in the chamber, making every senator’s vote critical.
During the first week of July, MAGA activist Laura Loomer made a viral, uncorroborated claim that she’d heard McConnell was “officially brain dead,” fueling existing conspiracy theories that he was in worse shape than his office let on.
On Tuesday, July 7, conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings, who formerly served as an adviser to McConnell, claimed on X that he had spoken to the senator on the phone. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso also claimed to have spoken with him.
Then on Sunday, July 12, McConnell broke his silence nearly a month after he was admitted to the hospital, sharing a written statement and photo.
In a statement shared with his constituents, the senator wrote that he has long had “mobility challenges” related to his childhood polio diagnosis that resulted in a fall on June 14, leading him to lose consciousness.
“Surviving childhood polio meant spending my entire life with mobility challenges,” he wrote in part alongside a photo of himself and wife Elaine Chao, stating that “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older.”
“They haven’t exactly gotten easier to manage with age. And last month, I took a fall which landed me in the hospital,” McConnell, 84, wrote. “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.”
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He said he remains focused on his recovery and is following medical guidance to improve his condition. After showing continued progress, he had transitioned from hospital care to a rehabilitation center, though he noted that regaining his strength will “[take] time.”
At the time, the GOP senator added that he “won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”
Neither McConnell nor his staff have provided an update on his recovery since July 12. PEOPLE reached out to his office for the latest information about McConnell’s health on Wednesday morning, and to request a response to Tuberville’s comments, but did not hear back.
The former Republican Senate leader stepped down from his leadership role in early 2025 after nearly two decades in the position. He later announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate.
Republican Rep. Andy Barr and former Democratic state Rep. Charles Booker will face off in November to determine who succeeds him beginning in January.
Read the original article on People
