US Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, has been hospitalized since mid-June, with his office providing minimal information or updates in the weeks since.
McConnell was admitted on June 14, and his spokesman did not elaborate on his condition at the time, only noting that the Republican lawmaker from Kentucky was “receiving excellent care."
McConnell, 84, is a former Senate majority leader who helped steer Republicans' legislation and appointees through Congress.
On Thursday, McConnell’s office said that the senator “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital” and that he “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
Additionally, McConnell's wife departed for a series of diplomatic and philanthropic events in China just three days after his hospitalization, and is still abroad.
What is known about McConnell's mystery malady?
Two of McConnell's neighbors told Reuters they saw the senator on a stretcher being loaded into an ambulance on June 14 around 9 a.m. outside his Washington, DC home.
Additionally, emergency responders confirmed they had performed CPR on an “unconscious individual undergoing cardiac arrest” at McConnell’s address, according to recordings from dispatcher calls obtained by The New York Times.
McConnell’s team has not confirmed that he had undergone any cardiac event, and the senator is not named in the recordings.
McConnell’s hospitalization is the latest in his long medical history, from having polio as a child to an eight-day hospital stay in February after experiencing “flu-like symptoms.”