McConnell, 84, Goes Missing Again After Senate Return
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters Senator Mitch McConnell made it through his first week back on Capitol Hill after a three-month absence, during which his team largely kept him from being seen or speaking at all—especially on camera.
On Thursday, the 84-year-old senator was spotted being loaded into an SUV for a third trip to the Hill, where he participated in one vote but did not stick around for two more that afternoon.
And he wasn’t spotted inside the Senate or on his short journey home amid continuing concerns about his health.
McConnell voted “yea” on a procedural vote to move forward with a bipartisan bill regulating college sports, but video of the Senate floor did not capture the Kentucky senator as his name was said and the vote recorded.
Plenty of other senators also did not appear on camera as they voted that afternoon.
McConnell did not participate in the next two votes on Thursday afternoon before senators skipped town.
He was one of four senators who did not vote on a procedural vote Thursday afternoon and one of six senators who did not vote to confirm a district judge that day.
The Daily Beast asked McConnell’s office where he went after the earlier vote and why he did not participate in the rest of them, but did not receive an immediate response.
McConnell, seated in his wheelchair, was captured on video by independent journalist Desirée Townsend being loaded into an SUV outside his Washington, D.C. home on Thursday morning, but he was not captured again on camera the rest of the day.
He was wearing a green tie and smiled for the camera as his team moved him.
He gave a thumbs-up with his right hand, a move he’s done repeatedly throughout the week, but did not answer questions.
A dark bruise marked his left hand.
His chief of staff, Terry Carmack, who has been sticking close to the senator’s side throughout his reemergence in public, was also with him as the team departed.
Where he went once he arrived on Capitol Hill before and after his one Thursday vote remains a mystery.
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