GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell health concerns grow, rumors spread

Questions surrounding Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., mount as the 84-year-old lawmaker remains hospitalized for more than three weeks with scant details disclosed about his health status.

McConnell, the former longtime Senate majority leader who declined to seek an eighth term following a series of health scares, was admitted to the hospital on June 14, news outlets reported.

A spokesman for McConnell at the time confirmed the hospitalization and said the senator “is receiving excellent care,” but gave no other information, news outlets reported.

Asked by CNBC on Tuesday for the latest available information about McConnell’s health, the senator’s office provided the same brief statement it released last week, saying the senator “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital.”

“The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session,” that statement read, suggesting McConnell is lucid, active and recovering.

Audio of emergency services calls, first reported by journalist Desiree Townsend and later obtained by other news outlets, indicated responders performing CPR on a person experiencing cardiac arrest at McConnell’s Washington address on the day of his hospitalization. McConnell’s name is not mentioned in the audio. The senator’s office has declined to comment about the recordings.

Simmering scrutiny of the senator’s status boiled over this week, after Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist and ally of President Donald Trump, claimed to have been told by a “high level source close to the White House” that McConnell “is officially brain dead.”

But multiple people, including GOP Senate leaders John Thune of South Dakota and John Barrasso of Wyoming, asserted Tuesday that they both spoke with McConnell at length in recent days.

Thune, the Senate majority leader, spoke with the Kentucky senator by phone on Monday and discussed national security issues and other topics, a Thune spokesperson told CNBC.

Barrasso, the chamber’s majority whip, had a roughly 20-minute conversation with McConnell earlier Tuesday afternoon, spokeswoman Kate Noyes told CNBC in a statement.

“They caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal, and the recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending limits,” Noyes said. “They also discussed the Senate’s July work period, including the need to pass the NDAA and confirm President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence.”

McConnell “was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate,” Noyes said.

Conservative commentator Scott Jennings, meanwhile, said in an X post that he spoke with McConnell by phone Tuesday morning.

“He’s still…