Mitch McConnell’s Vanishing Act Hits Major New Milestone

Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty/CNN/Senator McConnell's Office The marathon saga of Senator Mitch McConnell’s mysterious disappearance hit a disturbing new milestone on Wednesday after the 84-year-old senator’s prolonged vanishing act fueled rampant speculation and sparked outrage among critics.

The Kentucky senator has not been seen by the public in 80 days since he was rushed to the hospital on June 14, and it has now been nearly a month since the Republican’s team last provided an update on his recovery.

The extraordinary cover-up has become the talk of Congress, with confusion growing over why the veteran lawmaker has insisted on keeping his Kentucky constituents and his party in the dark.

He’s been missing roughly the same number of days the House has been in session for the entire year.

And this is at a time when Republicans are holding onto a narrow majority in the Senate, where every vote counts.

The former Republican Senate leader has already missed 60 votes in Congress since his hospitalization, on everything from a war powers resolution on Iran and policies on housing affordability, to the confirmation of new Attorney General Todd Blanche.

McConnell was released from a rehabilitation center on Aug.

6, according to a statement from his office at the time, but his team has offered no new information about how the senator is doing since then.

While the Senate has been in recess since Aug.

8, McConnell’s office has not said if he will return with his colleagues when they arrive back in Washington in just under two weeks.

Ahead of the 80-day mark of his disappearance from public view, his office also did not respond to the Daily Beast’s questions about his recovery or how he’s been spending his days.

However, the Daily Beast visited his Washington, D.C., residence this week and observed a security detail—three unmarked SUVs with tinted windows—parked outside his home, along with two marked Capitol Police cars and officers at each end of his street.

Most of the curtains in the house were drawn, although a first-floor window was open, and there was no mail piled up outside, as there had been when McConnell was in hospital prior to his release.

The last image of McConnell was released by his team more than a month ago on July 27.