CNN has thrown conservative commentator Scott Jennings under the bus over his claim that he spoke with former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who remains hospitalized after a health care emergency last month.
Paramedics were dispatched to the 84-year-old senator’s residence on June 14, taking him to the hospital, where he has been incommunicado, not being heard from or seen for nearly a month, sparking conspiracy theories about his condition, with the influential MAGA activist Laura Loomer reporting that her sources told her that McConnell is “brain dead.”
BREAKING:
New video & eyewitness account show Sen. Mitch McConnell, 84, wheeled out on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance from his DC home on June 14 after a call for an unconscious person/cardiac arrest.
He’s been HOSPITALIZED for nearly A MONTH with almost ZERO… pic.twitter.com/z4EjfrIoDX
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 10, 2026
“High level source close to the White House tells me ‘Mitch McConnell is officially brain dead. He’s not coming back,” she wrote in an X post this week.
But Jennings disputed the suggestion that the Kentucky Republican is in a vegetative state, claiming he had personally conversed with the stricken geriatric senator by phone for about 20 minutes, a claim that top GOP senators also made, using the same exact amount of time.
“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 little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible,” Jennings wrote in a post to X on Tuesday.
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
Jennings’ claim invited skepticism, especially since McConnell himself has not made any sort of statement, and even his CNN colleagues have challenged him to back it up, with host Kasie Hunt inviting him to get his old friend on the phone.
(Video: CNN)
Now the cable news network has distanced itself from the MAGA hero.
CNN has issued a statement to the Daily Beast regarding Scott Jennings’ alleged 20-minute chat with Sen. Mitch McConnell.
“As a CNN Political Commentator, Scott Jennings is not a full-time employee or journalist for the network. His account of a personal conversation with…
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) July 11, 2026
“As a CNN Political Commentator, Scott Jennings is not a full-time employee or journalist for the network. His account of a personal conversation with Senator McConnell reflects his experience and is not CNN reporting,” a network spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
It’s an extraordinary move from CNN, which not only isn’t standing by Jennings, but all but openly suggesting that he’s a liar.
On Friday’s edition of “The Source,” Jennings was reduced to pleading with McConnell’s staff to put out some sort of statement because “everybody sort of seems to think he’s either dead or incapable of chatting”
“But I have told the people in his office that I am in regular contact with that I think some of the narrative around this is being driven by people who, frankly, are posting untrue, unhinged conspiracy theories, and that some transparency here would make a lot of it go away,” he said.
“To be honest with you, I was surprised when he called me, and one of the reasons I put out my tweet when I did my post, sorry, when I did, was that I just thought, hey, everybody sort of seems to think he’s either dead or not capable of chatting,” Jennings explained. “And since I had talked to him, I thought that was valuable information.”
As of Saturday morning, there still hasn’t been a peep from McConnell.
