'Hopefully he's still with us': Andy Beshear reveals what he heard before McConnell's health update

WASHINGTON, DC: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear on Friday, July 17, said he received calls from two separate agencies suggesting Senator Mitch McConnell had died before the Republican lawmaker's office released a hospital photo and health update last month.

Beshear argued public officials are entitled to some medical privacy but said prolonged absences require greater transparency for constituents. McConnell, 84, was hospitalized in June following a fall that his office later said briefly left him unconscious. McConnell said he is recovering through physical therapy but has not yet returned to the Senate.

Andy Beshear says calls suggested Mitch McConnell had died before health update

Beshear said concerns surrounding McConnell's condition had escalated because there was little official information for nearly a month after the senator was hospitalized.

"It had been a month before anything had been put out, not even an official statement from Senator McConnell," Beshear said. "In fact, I'd gotten two calls from different agencies, not state agencies, suggesting he'd passed.”

The Kentucky governor did not identify the agencies or provide additional details about the calls. Beshear said the speculation underscored why McConnell's office needed to communicate more openly with the public. "So this rampant speculation that was out there, it needed to end. People deserve to know what was going on," he said.

He added that the subsequent hospital photo and statement were "hopefully" evidence that McConnell was recovering. "Hopefully what that means is he's still with us, which is what we all want. But then there's this question of when can he get back to doing his job."

McConnell's office released a hospital photo on July 12 showing the senator sitting beside his wife, former US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao. In a statement accompanying the image, McConnell said he had briefly lost consciousness after a fall, but doctors determined he had not suffered a heart attack, stroke or concussion.

Andy Beshear calls for greater transparency on Mitch McConnell's absence

Beshear said elected officials accept additional public accountability when they take office and argued that McConnell should provide Kentuckians with clearer updates while remaining away from the Senate.

"When you've been in a hospital for a month, and you've missed all the votes, which is your job, you owe your boss, like anybody else out there who works, an explanation of what's been going on and when you'll get back," Beshear said.

“When you take on these jobs, when you represent the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, you give up some of that. That's what comes with the territory."

Beshear had previously sent a letter to McConnell’s office requesting an update on the senator's health, citing growing concern among Kentuckians. He later said neither he nor his office had received any direct communication regarding McConnell's condition outside the public statements released by the senator's staff.

McConnell said he remains unable to return to the Senate floor on the advice of his doctors but continues working with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while undergoing rehabilitation.