Mitch McConnell is alert and talking about issues from Iran to the political scandal gripping a Maine senate candidate, despite a wild rumor that he is ‘brain dead’ after being admitted to hospital three weeks ago.

Scott Jennings, the GOP political strategist and Daily Mail columnist, on Tuesday posted on X: ‘I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital.

‘We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about Iran, Ukraine, the unfolding situation in Maine, my visit to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.’

The health update on McConnell comes after the 84-year-old was admitted to hospital on the morning of June 14 following a medical emergency at his Washington, DC, home.

Paramedics responded to a report of an unconscious person believed to have suffered a ‘cardiac arrest,’ with a medic reporting ‘CPR in progress’ at the address.

The senator was not named on the call, and his office has never confirmed what sent him to the hospital, saying only that he is receiving ‘excellent care.’

The speculation surrounding McConnell has intensified in recent days because his aides have refused to release new information regarding his condition or whether he will return to work as the GOP fights to maintain its razor-thin majority.

Trump conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer claimed that an unnamed White House source told her that McConnell is in a ‘vegetative state’ or ‘brain dead’ and is ‘not coming back’ to work.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chair of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, arrives for a hearing on President Donald Trump’s funding requests for the Army, at the Capitol in Washington, May 19, 2026.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is pushed in a wheelchair as he heads for votes at the Capitol on February 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine ‘should have never started it’ in comments about Russia’s invasion of the country in February 2022

DC outlet The Hill even accidentally published an obituary-style look back at the senator’s political career which was swiftly deleted. 

Independent journalist Desirée Townsend claimed that she had confirmed Loomer’s allegations.

‘I have heard the same thing from my sources for days,’ she wrote. ‘At this point, I am at the hospital for when they eventually decide to cut him off of life support and move his body.’

As online chatter continued to grow about McConnell’s health condition, MAGA activists like Breitbart editor Matthew Boyle wrote on X, ‘McConnell’s staff should produce proof of the senator’s condition one way or another right now.’

The popular right-wing influencer, Catturd, demanded his aides post a video of the Kentucky senator from his hospital bed to prove he’s alive: ‘Why won’t they do it?’

‘Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,’ McConnell’s spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

‘The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.’

McConnell’s eldest daughter, Porter, 48, has deleted her X account amid the swirling speculation over her father’s health.

She is an outspoken critic of her father’s conservative politics and a longtime progressive advocate.

It remains unclear exactly when or why she deactivated the account, and there’s no confirmation the move is connected to McConnell’s hospitalization.

If McConnell were to leave office, or prove unable to resume his duties by August 3, Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear would be required to call a special election to fill the seat.

McConnell has already stated that he does not plan to run for reelection in the upcoming midterm elections.

His absence amid these health struggles places the GOP’s narrow Senate majority in a delicate balance.

Last month, Democrats were briefly able to pass a resolution limiting Trump’s war powers in Iran while McConnell was unable to attend the vote.

Other Republican senators have mostly refused to comment on McConnell’s health condition and have directed concerns to his office.

Utah Senator Mike Lee said on Tuesday that lawmakers are being kept in the dark: ‘Many of us aren’t speaking about Mitch McConnell’s condition because we know nothing about his condition.’