Axios

Speak or resign: Beshear ups demand for McConnell health status

1 hour agoCenter Left

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) demanded that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) verbally address constituents and demonstrate his ability to serve or resign his seat in a blunt letter sent to the senator and his staff.The big picture: It's been more than 40 days since 84-year-old conservative stalwart McConnell has appeared outside of pictures released by his office after being hospitalized. His lengthy absence and past health scares are fueling speculation about his capacity to serve.Driving the news: Beshear said in the letter that it was also being sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), whom Beshear urged to investigate McConnell's capacity to serve."I understand anyone's desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state's two U.S. senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy," the letter read. "That's the deal, and we all know it when we run."Beshear concluded the letter, "All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency," adding, "Kentuckians are just asking you to be honest."Thune's and McConnell's offices did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.State of play: Under Kentucky law, Senate vacancies — which can occur due to resignation, expulsion or death — are filled by a special election. McConnell will retire after his term ends in January 2027.Catch up quick: The letter, dated Monday, is the second that Beshear has sent to the senator's office requesting updates on his health. McConnell is still recovering from a June fall at his home, according to a Monday statement from Congress' physician's office, which was released alongside a statement from the senator and a photo of him and his wife.The physician said McConnell has undergone "strenuous" physical therapy and rehabilitation, adding that the senator's childhood bout with polio plays a "significant factor in his mobility."Friction point: Rumors and conspiracy theories have snowballed in the wake of McConnell's disappearance, fueled by influential MAGA voices. But McConnell said in the most recent statement issued by his office that he's "still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky."Go deeper: Scoop: Democrat wants reckoning over McConnell, Kean absences

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What’s Going on With Mitch McConnell? Kentucky’s Governor Has Questions.

NYT > U.S. > Politics

4 hours ago

What’s Going on With Mitch McConnell? Kentucky’s Governor Has Questions.

Gov. Andy Beshear called on Senator McConnell, who has been hospitalized since June, to prove his capacity to serve, or resign.

Center Left

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Kentucky governor tells Mitch McConnell: Prove you can serve or ‘resign’

NBC News Politics

5 hours ago

Kentucky governor tells Mitch McConnell: Prove you can serve or ‘resign’

Gov. Andy Beshear issued his ultimatum in letters to McConnell and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, warning that he may begin the process of replacing him.

Center Left

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Trump busted as demand for Supreme Court 'rehearing' hits a brick wall

Alternet.org

6 hours ago

Trump busted as demand for Supreme Court 'rehearing' hits a brick wall

President Donald Trump has run out of time, and he doesn't appear to know it yet. The president took to Truth Social earlier this month after his failed ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court over birthright citizenship. "Signs and Billboards are being put up all over our Southern Border, and Mexico, advertising birthright citizenship, with 'deliveries starting at $4,000.' Likewise, similar signs are going up all over our country. Billions of dollars will be illegally made by this scam, with citizenship going to anyone willing to pay," Trump said with his random capitalizations. "It will be by far, the number one way of becoming a citizen, and then the entire family will be allowed to follow. Not sustainable ... In fact, that is a crime, and therefore, the Supreme Court's ruling is wrong. I will be asking for rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, immediately. This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don't change their absolutely insane decision. Thank you for your attention to this matter," the message read.As William and Mary law professor Jonathan H. Adler explained, Trump's demand hit a brick wall."The deadline has passed, and the Docket does not indicate any petition was filed," he wrote on X.com. SCOTUS Wire explained, "Rule 44 allows 25 days to seek rehearing. It requires the support of at least one Justice from the majority, and is rarely granted."The Supreme Court decision was handed down on June 30 and Tuesday marks 28 days since the ruling. Trump is officially outside the rule. Trump and his allies continue to make claims about birth tourism, saying that women who are eight months pregnant either fly or walk across the U.S. border to give birth. That claim was cited by Solicitor General John Sauer in oral arguments in April. Chief Justice John Roberts asked Sauer how often this is happening. Sauer responded, "No one knows for sure."Trump alleged that there are hundreds of thousands of people doing this each year."In 2020, the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that advocates low immigration, estimated the possible number of birth tourism cases at 20,000 to 26,000 per year. For context, there were 3.61 million births in the U.S. that year," explained FactCheck.org.

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Ex-CIA officials demand probe into 'weird' intel docs 'tailor made' for Trump

Alternet.org

7 hours ago

Ex-CIA officials demand probe into 'weird' intel docs 'tailor made' for Trump

Former intelligence officials are demanding answers about an alleged CIA document used by President Donald Trump to promote his election denial claims. According to officials, this “weird” document appears to have been “tailor made” for Trump rather than adhering to normal agency procedure. According to MSNOW, these officials “think the public should know when and why it was written, and who requested it.”The matter involves a CIA note on the People’s Republic of China entitled “Sensitive PRC Reporting from 2018 – 2020.” As MSNOW explained, “The date is redacted, and it is unclear where within the CIA it originated. Trump quoted directly from the three-page document in his speech when citing debunked claims that the intelligence community withheld information from him about China, and called on the Justice Department to ‘fire those involved in the cover-up’ and ‘file criminal charges if appropriate.’”Former officials, however, have raised alarms that the document appears to be “raw intelligence all supporting a single view — alleging that China wanted Trump to lose the 2020 election and sought to influence the outcome — without including the full scope, context or any definitive conclusion from the agency’s information. The Trump administration, the officials said, should answer whether the document was drafted in response to a narrowly tailored request from someone within the administration, noting that to do so with the purpose of supporting Trump’s accusations about the security of America’s elections would be a clear politicization of the country’s intelligence community.”According to a Democratic lawmaker with national security oversight, there are many questions about the document, a list of which will be sent to the CIA. For example, “the document does not show traditional accountability markers, such as authorship and footnotes, and the high degree of confidence expressed in the document is unusual.” Six former CIA and intelligence officials agreed that the CIA and White House should answer questions.“The fact that the document presented only one viewpoint and appeared to be crafted in response to a narrow query should be investigated, the former officials said,” explained MSNOW. “The Steady State, a group of former national security and intelligence officials, is calling for an independent investigation by key congressional committees and the inspectors general for the intelligence community and CIA. Steven Cash, executive director of The Steady State and a former CIA and Department of Homeland Security official, is sending a letter Tuesday to top lawmakers on the intelligence committees and agency watchdog offices, detailing key ‘anomalies’ in the document.”The Steady State concluded that the document “departs in both style and format” from CIA drafting norms and does not have caveats typical of CIA analysis. One former official called it “weird,” saying it “doesn’t read like a finished product.” According to former CIA analyst Julie Curlee, the document looks recently generated and “tailor made.” As she explains, “Released under CIA letterhead, but with its author and publication date redacted, it has all the hallmarks of a memo built to serve the president’s political needs and the intelligence community’s authority turned against the American public.”“Was this done to placate Trump?” another former senior intelligence official wondered.

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Trump Admin Demands Emergency Room Records in Alarming Move

The New Republic

8 hours ago

Trump Admin Demands Emergency Room Records in Alarming Move

The Trump administration is trying to get medical records from emergency room visits through the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC.KFF Health News reports that the small federal agency responsible for protecting Americans from faulty household appliances is now demanding that hospitals turn over personally identifiable medical records. Earlier this year, the CPSC started pressuring hospital executives to share the data with a private contractor, ostensibly to overhaul its system for tracking consumer-product-related injuries at hospitals.The CPSC is seeking records on everything from broken bones to vaccine reactions, and even suicide attempts. In emails to hospital executives, a CPSC official asked that the hospitals provide personally identifiable information from patients, including names, addresses, and diagnoses, to contractor Konza Health. In turn, Konza Health told health executives that providing this information was “mandatory” or “required.”The CPSC wants at least 100 hospitals to provide this information by the end of 2026, according to an agency memo. But hospital attorneys and health industry experts are concerned about the agency’s legal authority to collect medical records, its ability to keep such records safe, and whether it is following the laws in making such sweeping changes.“The whole thing is troubling,” Sharona Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University, told KFF Health News, saying that patient privacy will be at risk. “If this company really is collecting identifiable information, that is worrisome for patients.”The requests could also violate federal privacy law, as well as laws preventing federal authorities from mandating the reporting of private health data. The CPSC’s operating manual previously instructed hospitals not to include patients’ private information, such as “names, birthdates, or addresses” in case reports.Last year, President Trump fired the CPSC’s three Democratic board members, and the Supreme Court let the firings stand after they were challenged in court. KFF Health News also found that 63 career staffers left the agency in 2025, the most for any year in a decade. The administration has sought private health information to help its mass deportation agenda, its anti-vaccination agenda, and its assault on federal workers. What dark plans does it have this time?

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Forensic psychologist says new McConnell photo is littered with 'red flags'

Alternet.org

9 hours ago

Forensic psychologist says new McConnell photo is littered with 'red flags'

Sen. Mitch McConnell's this week released another photo claiming to show him on the road to recovery, but according to one professional psychologist, the photo is still littered with "red flags" that cast doubt on his condition.McConnell has been hospitalized since mid-June after reportedly being found unconscious at his home. Due to his office's lack of transparency about his condition, conspiracy theories have exploded about his true health status, including claims that he is close to death or dead already, and that his status is being hidden to prevent a special election for his Senate seat.In the latest statement released by his office, McConnell claimed that he was still undergoing intensive physical therapy at home after being discharged from the hospital, and was not yet cleared by his doctors to return to the Senate.In a new video reacting to the photo, Dr. John Paul Garrison, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist with a specialty in body language, highlighted the numerous "red flags" that were still evident in the photo.First and foremost, Garrison noted that the composition of the photo was deliberately chosen to keep McConnell's hands out of frame, to hide any possible "edemas" that they might show, or anything else concerning about them. He also noted that, in general, the photo was designed to answer as few questions about the senator as possible, and communicate only that he is alive and smiling."They don't want you to ask any other questions; they don't want to give any other information," Garrison said.He also noted that, just like in the first photo, McConnell and his wife are looking in two different directions, a notable point of concern. However, this time around, he admitted that it was much less obvious, and that a casual viewing of the photo would not suggest anything was wrong with where they were looking. Chao, he explained, appeared to be properly looking at the camera being used to take the photo. McConnell, in contrast, appeared to be looking instead at the person taking the photo."Once again, this is the best that they could do," he explained. "It doesn't seem that they're able to get him to be with it enough to take a decent photo."Chao, Garrison observed, also appeared to be applying a good amount of pressure as she held her husband's arm in the photo. This suggested that she was putting in effort to keep him still, either because he could not manage to do so himself, or because he might be struggling to sit up properly."The amount of pressure that she has on his arm right there is not affection," Garrison argued. "This is not demonstrating closeness. This is demonstrating that she is providing stability."McConnell also appeared to have the top button on his shirt undone, despite typically having his shirts buttoned all the way up. Garrison said that this could be a sign that his team wanted to have that area of his body easily accessible, which could be for a number of medical reasons. It could also be because the senator would not be comfortable with it done up all the way."I think that tells you just how precarious this situation is," Garrison continued. "And to use the word I used last time, just how fragile he actually is. I think that McConnell is so fragile and so frail that they did some very, very subtle trickery to try to show some degree of liveliness. I do think that this is a very, very carefully positioned picture, and it doesn't show robustness or strength. It just shows that he is alive, basically."

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RFK Jr. blindsided by Trump with 'priority' flip-flop demand: report

Raw Story

12 hours ago

RFK Jr. blindsided by Trump with 'priority' flip-flop demand: report

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was caught by surprise by a demand from President Donald Trump in May to lead his department in making a massive sea change in policy.According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the Health and Human Services secretary was "taken aback" when the president proposed that he ramp up efforts to link autism to childhood vaccinations.Kennedy had previously been explicitly told to "tone down his anti-vaccine crusade" ahead of the midterms. White House political advisers worried his controversial positions would alienate voters. So Kennedy complied, muzzling himself in service of the midterm strategy.Then Trump blindsided him.At a May lunch at the presidential golf course in northern Virginia, Trump personally demanded Kennedy make vaccine-autism link research a "priority" — directly contradicting the guidance Kennedy had received just weeks earlier.According to the Journal, "The issue has been an ongoing point of tension between the two men. In a mid-June meeting in the Oval Office, the president vented to Kennedy that he wasn’t doing enough, people familiar with the matter said."The message was unmistakable: Kennedy's tenure at HHS hinges on making progress on vaccine-autism research — a discredited theory with no scientific basis."The president has made clear he thinks he has given Kennedy enough time and is disappointed the health secretary hasn’t accomplished more in the past year and a half," people familiar with the president's thinking told the Journal.

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Dissatisfied MAGA pundit calls out Mitch McConnell on CNN after latest proof-of-life photo

Raw Story

14 hours ago

Dissatisfied MAGA pundit calls out Mitch McConnell on CNN after latest proof-of-life photo

A former Republican congressional staffer called out Sen. Mitch McConnell's lack of transparency as his mysterious absence stretches into its sixth week.The 84-year-old senator's office issued a second photo Monday showing McConnell seated in a hospital bed alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, and explaining that he was undergoing "intense physical therapy" on a doctor's orders, but Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear expressed doubts about his claims and demanded more clarity."The attending physician’s written statement does not discuss your actual condition, including whether you can speak, reason, or carry out your duties as a senator," the governor stated in a letter. "I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy."“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” Beshear added.T.W. Arrighi, a former communications aide to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), agreed that McConnell owed his constituents a stronger explanation for his continued absence from the U.S. Senate."I think every American wants more transparency," Arrighi told "CNN This Morning." "Even the Republicans of Kentucky would like it. I'm not saying Mitch McConnell is lying or being deceitful. I just think he should be more forthright and put out a quick video.""But look, let's put this in perspective," Arrighi added. "He's not running again, which was a good thing. I wish we had all old politicians say they aren't running again. He's not running again. We have three or four weeks, maybe, of the Senate calendar left. Everything else is operating, and they have a Democratic governor in Kentucky, so resigning is out of the option, out of the playbook." - YouTube youtu.be

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Speak or resign: Beshear ups demand for McConnell health status

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Speak or resign: Beshear ups demand for McConnell health status

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