Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is still in the hospital more than two weeks after he was first admitted, and newly surfaced dispatch audio shows the emergency was more serious than his office initially let on.
Police scanner audio reviewed by CBS News and NBC News shows paramedics responded to a “cardiac arrest” call at an address matching McConnell’s Washington home before 9 a.m. on June 14, with a medic reporting “CPR in progress” on an unconscious person.
The recording never names the patient, and neither network has independently confirmed that McConnell was the person paramedics treated. McConnell’s office has not addressed the audio directly, pointing reporters instead to earlier statements about his hospitalization.
Read: Fact Check: Mitch McConnell’s Health and How He’ll Likely Be Replaced
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Those statements have grown only slightly more detailed with time. McConnell’s office confirmed the hospitalization the same day, saying he was “receiving excellent care.” A day later, spokesperson David Popp said the senator remained active in Senate matters despite being hospitalized.
By June 22, with McConnell still hospitalized and missing votes, Popp’s language shifted to say only that McConnell was “still working closely with staff.” On July 2, nearly three weeks in, a spokesperson said McConnell “continues to improve,” adding that he remained engaged with his team. His office still has not said what caused the hospitalization or when he might be released.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in mid-June that he had spoken with McConnell by phone and that his predecessor “sounded good.” Thune said McConnell remained plugged into what the chamber was working on that week. McConnell last voted on June 11 and has not appeared publicly since.
This is McConnell’s second hospitalization this year. He spent more than a week in the hospital in February with flu-like symptoms. He has also had a string of other health scares in recent years, including a 2023 concussion from a fall, two on-camera freezing episodes that same year, and additional falls in 2024 that left him with a sprained wrist and facial scratches. McConnell survived polio as a child.
The vague updates have fueled speculation online. Crypto investor Adam Cochran argued in a widely shared post that a three-week hospital stay points to something more serious than routine recovery, citing unnamed medical contacts who told him that such patients are typically discharged home much sooner.
No news outlet has confirmed those claims or attributed them to a named physician involved in McConnell’s care.
McConnell announced last year that he would not seek reelection, ending a Senate career that began in 1984 and included a record run as the chamber’s longest-serving party leader. His seat is on the ballot in November regardless of his health, with Republican Rep. Andy Barr the favorite to win it.
