Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Wednesday that if Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was hospitalized last month, is unable to provide the public with an update on his health, he should resign.
“If he can’t give us an update, he should resign,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. “Absolutely.”
McConnell, 84, has not been seen in public after he was admitted to a Washington, D.C., hospital on June 14. A statement from McConnell released by his office on July 12 said the senator was admitted to the hospital after he took a fall that left him unconscious. A photo of the senator in the hospital, sitting next to his wife, Elaine Chao, was also released with a statement after speculation about his condition hit a fever pitch.
But the statement and photo have not proven enough to discount conspiracy theories about McConnell’s health, with widespread speculation, without evidence, circulating online that the photo attached was altered with artificial intelligence.
Ocasio-Cortez told reporters that “it’s been very clear to people across Kentucky that his update was not sufficient” and that lawmakers have a “responsibility to the American people.”
“We’re seeing increasingly, these votes are being decided by a one- or two-vote margin, and if you’re not capable of — not only not capable of doing the job presently, but we need to know if you’re capable of doing the job for the foreseeable future, and that I think is tremendously important,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.
Few updates have been released by McConnell’s office regarding the senator’s health, but the July 12 statement did confirm that he was also diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia during his stay in the hospital.
McConnell wrote in his statement that he has been receiving “excellent care,” but under the advice of his doctors, “won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”
“I can assure you that I’ve been a good patient,” McConnell wrote. “At my age, I tend to do what my doctors tell me to do. I’ve submitted to every test they can think of to help figure out what caused this incident. And I’m continuing to do everything they ask to speed my recovery. In fact, with signs of continued progress, I’ve been able to move from hospital care to a rehabilitation center where I’ll keep regaining my strength.”
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Ocasio-Cortez argued, however, that “at a certain point we have to be asking where he is.”
“I understand that people have a right to medical privacy and to deal with their issues, but we do not have the right to disappear from our jobs without explanation,” the New York Democrat argued. “I don’t think any American has ever experienced the ability to just leave your job for over a month with no explanation to your employer, and we are accountable to the public.”