Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, released a new photo of himself and his wife Elaine Chao in an email late Monday morning.
But he has not spoken publicly since his hospitalization 44 days ago.
In the email, the Senator expressed regret that he could not attend a picnic in Western Kentucky this week.
‘Senator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June,’ an attached comment from his doctor said.
‘Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation.’
Though McConnell has not spoken publicly, several prominent figures have said they talked with the Kentucky Senator over the phone.
Spokespeople for Senators John Thune and John Barrasso confirmed that the two top Republicans each had a substantial conversation with McConnell, while CNN commentator Scott Jennings, an old associate of McConnell’s, said much the same in an X post.
Over the weekend, Senator Shelley Moore Capito told independent journalist Nicholas Ballasy that she had talked to someone who had visited McConnell and described him as ‘clear-minded.’
McConnell (L) with his wife, former Cabinet Secretary Elaine Chao in a photo dated July 26
In an older photo, McConnell sits up in a hosptial bed, holding the front of July 12’s Washington Post sports section
Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said she would likely not visit McConnell herself until he asked for visitors.
The photo released on Monday, which is dated Sunday, July 26, resembles a photo released two weeks prior amid widespread speculation about McConnell’s health.
Ron Johnson, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, stoked conspiracies about McConnell when he told America’s Voice a ‘source’ told him the first proof-of-life photo was ‘older.’
Johnson later ate his words and publicly backed off his original claim.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has publicly pushed for more information on the health of his state’s senior Senator.
McConnell was originally hospitalized on June 14, suffering from what he described in a written statement as a fall that left him ‘briefly unconscious.’
He also said that he dealt with a ‘mild’ case of pneumonia during his hospital stay.
He has fallen several times in the past, attributing the difficulty to his childhood infection with polio.
McConnell, pictured in February 2025, has at times resorted to being pushed in a wheelchair
The 84-year-old had faced questions about his health before this year’s hospitalization, including when he appeared to freeze while talking to the press on two separate occasions in 2023.
Questions about McConnell’s condition intensified this month after the unexpected death of his fellow Senator Lindsey Graham.
