Sen. Thune phones McConnell, 84, hospitalized for three weeks

The office of Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday said the senator was continuing to recover after he was hospitalized. McConnell, the 84-year-old former Senate majority leader, has been recovering in a hospital for about three weeks for an unspecified issue. In a statement to WORLD, a spokesperson for McConnell reiterated that the senator appreciated the outpouring of support he’d received from the public and continued to improve. The spokesperson also said the senator was working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the body was out of session.

Is the senator communicative? A spokesperson for current Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told WORLD that Sen. Thune spoke with Sen. McConnell on Monday by phone. The spokesperson characterized the conversation as lengthy and substantive, covering a wide range of topics, including national security.

Additionally, a spokeswoman for Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told WORLD that the two senators talked early Tuesday afternoon for roughly 20 minutes. Barrasso and McConnell caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal, and the recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending limits, the spokeswoman said, noting that McConnell “was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”

Conservative pundit and Trump supporter Scott Jennings issued a statement saying he’d spoken with the senator Tuesday morning. He said their conversation lasted nearly 20 minutes and covered topics such as the Iran War and the war in Ukraine, among other topics. He said McConnell was continuing to recover.

What’s the background? The 84-year-old senator was hospitalized on June 14, according to his office, which did not provide any details about the reasons for his admittance. Last week, an independent journalist published 911 audio indicating that emergency responders were called to McConnell’s Washington, D.C., home on a report of an unconscious person the same day the senator was hospitalized. The audio recording seems to indicate that an individual suffered cardiac arrest and that CPR was in progress. The patient was never publicly identified. The senator’s name was never referenced in the dispatch call or scanner traffic.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report about McConnell bowing out of his Senate leadership position.