Scoop: McConnell Ally Tells Raw America ‘The Real Reason Mitch Is Holding On’

Raw America's Brian Karem digs into Mitch McConnell's mysterious hospitalization, and gets exclusive quotes from Republican insiders on what's happening behind the scenes

MAGA world and Senate Republicans are at odds today over whether former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is actually still alive.

Laura Loomer claimed on her X account that McConnell is braindead, citing anonymous sources. He was hospitalized on June 14th and while some Republicans claim to have spoken with him and that all is well, others aren’t so sure.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and former McConnell aide Scott Jennings all claimed to have spoken with McConnell this week. Each one claimed to have had detailed conversations of up to 20 minutes long with the 84 year-old senior U.S. senator from Kentucky.

“I’ve worked for him for years,” a member of McConnell’s Kentucky office confided to Raw America. “I don’t know anything. I’m sure someone knows the truth, but it ain’t me.”

Other staffers in McConnell’s Senate office were close-lipped, leading to the increasing speculation that if McConnell is still breathing, he isn’t in any position to talk with the public. He is scheduled to leave office at the end of his term in January. One of his closest aides have said as recently as a month ago, amid growing speculations about his health, “[McConnell] intends to leave on his own terms.”

The Kentucky Republican is currently residing at George Washington University hospital, and has been there since mid-June. The only official word out of McConnell’s office was a short statement released through his spokesman.

“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” the statement read, notably omitting what he was receiving treatment for. When asked about McConnell’s diagnosis, one unnamed Republican aide in Kentucky said, “Hell if I know.”

“Laura Loomer is probably right,” a Kentucky Republican state senator told Raw America. “But I don’t know how you can prove it without knowing where he is and why he went to the hospital.”

At the same time, two GOP staffers passed along rumors that McConnell was allegedly in a “coma” and isn’t expected to recover.

“Not in this life. He’s done,” one staffer said.

Verifiable facts have been hard to come by. Emergency responders reported on the day McConnell went to the hospital that they had worked on an “unconscious individual” undergoing cardiac arrest at the senator’s D.C. address. McConnell was not named in the dispatch recording.

Last Thursday McConnell’s office issued a statement saying the senator “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital” and that he “continues to improve and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

“News to me,” McConnell’s Kentucky staffer said. “I’m sure if it is true he was working with someone, but it hasn’t been anyone around here.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) has lately been inundated with questions regarding McConnell’s future. Last Thursday in a press briefing, Beshear told reporters, “We have received no information. No updates. If there has been any direct out reach I am unaware of it. I don’t want to speculate about anybody’s health.”

Late Tuesday afternoon Beshear’s office said the governor had nothing more to add.

“I don’t want to speak for the governor, but that pretty well sums it up,” a communications staffer in Beshear’s office said.

The GOP-dominated Kentucky legislature has specific rules in place to replace a member of Congress in the case of an untimely death. Beshear cannot replace McConnell with an appointment. The legislature must call for a special election by August 3 in the event of a sudden vacancy. If not, the replacement will be the winner of the general election in November.

Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) is scheduled to face former Kentucky state representative Charles Booker (D-Louisville) this November.

“Kentuckians of every stripe deserve a clear and honest answer about the senator’s condition,” Booker told reporters last week. “This seat carries too much responsibility and represents too many people for anything less than real accountability.”

Booker added that keeping McConnell on the job amounted to “elder abuse.” But Republicans’ razor-thin 53-47 Senate majority demand McConnell stick around for close votes.

Barr simply said he was praying for a speedy recovery for McConnell and he looked forward to working with him and President Trump “to deliver for Kentucky.”

“I have no idea how he can work with McConnell if Loomer is right,” a Republican staffer told Raw America. “Maybe by séance?”

Kentucky law is also vague on how a vacancy occurring late in an election year would interact with a Senate race already on the ballot. That fact is relevant because McConnell’s seat is already contested. If Gov. Beshear called a special election, do the two candidates already chosen in the May primary square off, or does the state start from scratch?

“A very interesting question,” a member of Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) office said. “It opens up all kinds of possibilities.”

An eleventh-hour Thomas Massie Senate candidacy is the last thing the president’s MAGA allies would want. He’s popular across the state and has set himself up as a independent-minded Republican who isn’t afraid of challenging Trump.

“That’s the real reason Mitch is holding on,” one McConnell ally told Raw America. “It eliminates all doubt and makes Barr a shoo-in to replace him.”

Until then, “we’re probably scheduled for several more reports of how well he’s doing.”

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