CNN’s Scott Jennings Shares Surprising Update on Mitch McConnell’s Health

CNN’s conservative commentator Scott Jennings has attempted to quell rumors about Mitch McConnell for the second time this week, as speculation mounts about the U.S. senator’s condition.

Appearing on Thursday’s (July 9) edition of The Lead with Jake Tapper, Jennings was asked if he’d spoken with McConnell that day. Earlier in the week, the CNN NewsNight panelist claimed that McConnell had called him on Tuesday (July 7) and that the pair had spoken for 20 minutes.

“I have not,” Jennings said, per The Daily Beast. “I have been in touch with the staff. In fact, I was speaking with some of his senior staff today, and I know he was actually meeting with some of his staff late this afternoon about a few issues going on over at the Senate.”

Jennings said it sounded “like somebody who was preparing at some point to go back to work,” adding, “Now, whether that means go back to work soon or go back to work eventually, I don’t know. But I do know he was meeting with his staff today and getting some briefings on a few issues.”

McConnell was reportedly hospitalized on June 14 for an unknown ailment and hasn’t been seen in public since. Initial reports said that a person was found “unconscious” by paramedics at a known address for the Republican politician.

On Thursday night, a neighbor of McConnell told CNN that they witnessed him being stretchered into an ambulance at around 8:30 am on June 14. While videos of the incident do not clearly show the individual’s face, the neighbor said they learned from another eyewitness that the person on the stretcher was McConnell.

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This followed a report from independent journalist Desirée Townsend, who obtained emergency dispatch audio that revealed first responders used the words “CPR in progress” and “cardiac arrest.”

“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” the 84-year-old’s office said in a statement on June 14.

Conspiracies have spread online in the weeks since regarding McConnell’s condition, with some even suggesting the senator may have died or is incapacitated.

Jennings brushed off those theories, telling Tapper, “I think he’s going to finish his term, and I think, frankly, Jake, all the speculation about him, you know, being dead or being a vegetable, or being in organ failure… that’s not true.”

The Lead with Jake Tapper, Weekdays, 4/3 c, CNN