CNN distanced itself from Scott Jennings claims on Mitch McConnell’s health and current status amid a weeklong hospitalization.
“As a CNN Political Commentator, Scott Jennings is not a full-time employee or journalist for the network,” the spokesperson told the Daily Beast. “His account of a personal conversation with Senator McConnell reflects his experience and is not CNN reporting.”
Former McConnell staffer Scott Jennings on Tuesday evening described his conversation with Mitch McConnell during an appearance on CNN.
Senator Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized since June 14 after a cardiac arrest incident.
The 84-year-old Kentucky Senator was reportedly found unconscious in his D.C. home last month before he was hospitalized.
Conservative reporter Laura Loomer said a White House source told her that McConnell is being kept alive with machines and is “brain dead.”
Mitch McConnell is being kept “alive” by life support machines, but my White House source told me McConnell is in organ failure, and as I reported, source told me he has allegedly been declared a vegetable (brain dead) by doctors and the White House has been told “McConnell isn’t…
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) July 6, 2026
On Tuesday, Jennings said he spoke to McConnell over the phone for about 20 minutes.
I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a…
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) July 7, 2026
Later Tuesday, Jennings joined CNN to provide more details about his phone call with McConnell.
CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked Jennings if McConnell would be willing to call in to the show live on air.
“Do you think he would be willing to call in to the show? Can we get him on the phone now?” she asked Jennings.
Jennings laughed off Kasie Hunt and said it was nice to hear McConnell’s voice.
“We talked for about 17 minutes. We talked a lot about the situation with Iran, talked a little bit about Ukraine and what’s going on in Europe. I told him I had been to the Teddy Roosevelt Library,” Jennings said.
Jennings insisted that McConnell’s voice sounded “strong.”
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