U.S. Capitol Police massed outside the Washington home of Sen. Mitch McConnell(R-KY), unseen in public since June, more than an hour after the Senate convened without him.
Video that conservative journalist Nick Sortor posted on X shortly after 4 p.m. Monday shows officers in tactical vests outside McConnell’s Capitol Hill townhouse.
Senate Republicans had expected the 84-year-old to end a three-month absence this week, Politico reported. His office has announced nothing.
Eighteen minutes later, independent journalist Desirée Townsend posted video of officers positioned behind the same building. Neither video shows McConnell. Townsend had been outside the home for nearly two hours by then. Her earlier video, recorded about 90 minutes before Sortor’s, shows a vehicle pulling up and a person walking inside, whom she identified as a home healthcare worker.
“Why does Mitch McConnell need health care?” Townsend shouted as the person reached the door. “Shouldn’t he be coming to the Senate floor?”
While officers stood outside, McConnell’s staff was privately assuring senior Republicans that he would soon be back at work, Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill reported.
Staff told those lawmakers he would return in time for the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Wednesday meeting on the farm bill, she reported, citing three people. His office has not made such an announcement. McConnell’s office declined to answer WKYT’s questions about his return status on Sept. 11, pointing the station back to a statement issued Aug. 6.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) lives on the same block. A TMZ reporter asked him Monday whether he had spoken to his neighbor.
“I haven’t seen any or heard anything from his people probably since June,” Tuberville said.
“We should [have] all been briefed on it, but that’s to the leadership,” he added.
McConnell has not cast a Senate vote since June 11 and was hospitalized three days later after a fall at the same Washington home, The Hill reported. He is retiring at the end of his term.
He spent weeks in a rehabilitation center before being discharged on Aug. 6 to continue intensive physical therapy at home, according to the statement his office later cited to WKYT.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, has demanded that McConnell prove he is able to serve out the remaining months of his term, UPI reported.
Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) plans to hold the vote this week regardless of whether McConnell attends, Politico reported. The panel’s attempt to advance the bill collapsed last month while he was absent.
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