Elaine Chao is pushing back after her trip to China during Sen. Mitch McConnell’s hospitalization fueled online speculation and political chatter.
The former U.S. transportation secretary returned to the United States this week after traveling abroad while her husband remained hospitalized following a June 14 medical emergency.
Chao’s trip became a flashpoint as McConnell’s team continued to provide few details about why the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican was admitted to the hospital or how he is doing.
“The secretary was on a long-planned trip in China to support her family’s philanthropic endeavors,” a spokesperson for Chao said in a statement to The Courier Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. “During the trip, she met with a number of people, including the U.S. ambassador. The senator’s health did not warrant an immediate return to the U.S.”
Chao, who served as transportation secretary during President Donald Trump’s first term and labor secretary under President George W. Bush, has been married to McConnell for decades.
Days after McConnell was hospitalized, the Chinese Embassy in Washington released a photo of Chao seated beside Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Beijing.
The image, taken in front of a large painting of the Great Wall, only added fuel to the online rumors already swirling around McConnell’s health.
Chao left for China on June 12, two days before McConnell was hospitalized, according to WLKY in Louisville.
Her staff did not say whether she had been in contact with McConnell since returning home, according to the station.
McConnell’s office has said little publicly since the hospitalization, beyond stating that he had been admitted and was receiving care.
That silence has left Kentucky voters, political allies and critics guessing about the health of one of the most powerful Republicans in modern Senate history.
The mystery deepened after reports that emergency crews were called to McConnell’s Washington, D.C., home for an unconscious person on June 14.
Video published from the scene reportedly showed emergency responders moving a person on a stretcher toward an ambulance outside the senator’s residence.
McConnell’s office has not publicly confirmed whether that emergency call involved the senator.
Amid the swirling news cycle, McConnell’s youngest daughter, Porter McConnell, deleted her account on X, according to the Independent.
Several Republicans have said they have spoken with McConnell in recent days and described him as engaged.
But the lack of specifics from his office has only kept the speculation alive.
Chao’s statement marks the first major public explanation for why she remained overseas during the early stretch of her husband’s hospitalization.
For now, McConnell remains out of public view, Chao is back in the U.S., and the questions surrounding the senator’s condition are still not going away.
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