(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s putting no stock in speculative reports that his colleague and former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is in a coma. McConnell, who stepped down from his leadership post last year, has been hospitalized since mid-June for treatment of an undisclosed medical issue.
“Well, I think that answer about a coma was handled yesterday by a couple of Republican leaders and another person,” Grassley says, “where they said they had a very maybe 20-minute conversation in each case with him.” The 92-year-old Grassley says McConnell, who’s 84, deserves whatever space he needs in order to recover.
“I’ll leave it up to the people of Kentucky to make a determination whether or not he’s delivered enough information,” Grassley says, “but I know this, that he’s entitled to the privacy that anybody ought to have when they have health problems, even when they’re a senator.” McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1985 and is now in his 7th term. He is not seeking reelection.
