CNN Senior Political Contributor Scott Jennings has shared an update on Senator Mitch McConnell’s “private” health battle, saying that he “seemed to be doing a lot better.”
The conservative pundit told his CNN colleagues on Tuesday’s episode of The Arena With Kasie Hunt that he talked with the Kentucky Republican on the phone earlier in the day.
“He left the rehab facility several days ago, and he’s been recovering at home,” Jennings, McConnell’s former political director and longtime friend, told a panel hosted by Pamela Brown filling in for Hunt. “I could tell being at home was better than being in the hospital.”
McConnell has not been seen in public since early June after taking a fall that landed him in the hospital. He was subsequently moved to a rehabilitation center, from which he was discharged on Thursday.
When CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Jennings why McConnell was talking to him and not calling into media outlets with updates, he said the senator is a private man.
“My belief about males of that generation is that they’re intensely private,” Jennings, who is also from Kentucky, said. “He’s always been a little private about his own personal healthcare.”
McConnell, a survivor of childhood polio, has suffered from a series of falls and public episodes of freezing up in recent years.
The senator’s office has only provided a few written statements and photos from McConnell in recent weeks, fueling baseless conspriacy theories that the 84-year-old had died and his team was covering it up.
In his most recent statement, McConnell said, “On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”
Jennings said he believes McConnell’s hope is to get back to Capitol Hill by September 14, when the Senate gets back from its August recess.
McConnell, Kentucky’s longest-serving senator, is not seeking reelection and will retire next year.
This is a developing story…
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