New Video Footage Shows Person Presumed To Be Sen. Mitch McConnell Being Loaded Into Ambulance On Day Of 911 Call

As the U.S. Senate prepares to return next week, the GOP is still plagued with questions surrounding one congressional leader: How is Sen. Mitch McConnell doing, is he coming back to work, and, if so, when?

As we reported earlier this week, the Republican senator from Kentucky was hospitalized last month for reasons no one seemed to know until it was revealed this month that, according to audio from a 911 call, someone at his home suffered a “cardiac arrest.” McConnell, 84, has spent three weeks in the hospital and hasn’t been present for a congressional vote since June 11. As Reuters reported, “The U.S. Senate returns on Monday for a four-week work period expected to include votes on defense ​and other national security legislation, with one of the most influential voices on those issues…still absent with undisclosed health problems.”

And if the 911 call revealing the likelihood that it was McConnell who suffered a cardiac arrest after being found unconscious in his home wasn’t concerning enough, CNN has released video footage of someone, presumably McConnell, being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. The video was apparently taken last month, at the time the 911 call was placed.

From CNN:

A neighbor of McConnell told CNN that they opened their door to find commotion outside their home at around 8:30 a.m. on June 14, with two ambulances a fire truck and Capitol Police officers blocking the entire street.

Videos taken by the neighbor show emergency responders wheeling a person on a stretcher toward an ambulance. The videos are shot from some distance, and the face of the person is not visible. Once in the ambulance, the person’s lower legs appear to be covered by an orange blanket, but feet are visible.

The neighbor said they asked officers what was going on, and the officers responded that there had been a “medical emergency.” But when the neighbor inquired if McConnell was having a medical emergency, officers said they would block the street for anybody. The neighbor said they learned from another eyewitness who saw the individual’s face that the person on the stretcher was McConnell and he was not wearing an oxygen mask.

“He’s in a stretcher, and he’s in some sort like orange foam-looking blanket-type thing,” the neighbor said, adding that when they looked at the person’s feet, they were “not moving.”

CNN noted that neither the video footage nor the neighbor’s account of that morning had been reported before now, and it surfaced as Republican officials and conservative pundits like CNN contributor Scott Jennings have been scrambling to put out the message that McConnell is doing just fine, and going as far as to claim they recently spoke with him to emphasize the narrative.

Of course, none of this provides any additional insight into McConnell’s current condition or whether he’ll be returning to work any time soon, if ever. On that, we’ll simply have to wait and see.

SEE ALSO:

Sen. Mitch McConnell Hospitalized After 911 ‘Cardiac Arrest’ Call

‘Stroke’ Trends After Mitch McConnell Freezes And Needs Help Walking Away From Press Conference