Mitch McConnell discharged from rehabilitation center after fall that left him hospitalized
Mitch McConnell announced today he has been discharged from the rehabilitation center where he’d been recovering after a fall left him hospitalized, extending the Republican senator’s weeks‑long absence from Capitol Hill. He said he will continue his recovery at home.
The Senate is set to wrap up legislative business this week before a five‑week August recess, but several agenda items remain – including a vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. McConnell’s absence further narrows Republicans’ already tight path to approving Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period,” McConnell said. “And I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”
His 53‑day absence has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties. Last month, Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, publicly urged McConnell to release more information about his health, writing: “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office.”
McConnell was admitted to the hospital on 14 June. His office initially offered few details, saying only that he was “continuing to improve”. A month later, McConnell disclosed that a fall at his home and a “mild case of pneumonia” had prompted the hospitalization and his extended time away. In late July, his office said he still had not been cleared to return to work.
Key events
As I noted earlier, we’re tracking the uncertain path to Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general.
Currently, senators Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy have not committed to supporting Blanche’s nomination.
Trump’s pick to lead the justice department can only afford one defection since Mitch McConnell has still not returned to Capitol Hill, and Susan Collins appears to be likely to vote “no” due to her concerns about Blanche’s approval of the $1.8bn slush fund for the president’s allies.
Of note, if any Democrats miss the vote that affords Republicans some leeway in the number they need to confirm Blanche, but as of now it doesn’t look like they’ll see any absences.
Senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, said that he is back home helping with his wife’s recovery, after she his wife underwent an emergency appendectomy. However he noted, on social media, that he would not be missing Blanche’s confirmation vote.
Mitch McConnell discharged from rehabilitation center after fall that left him hospitalized
Mitch McConnell announced today he has been discharged from the rehabilitation center where he’d been recovering after a fall left him hospitalized, extending the Republican senator’s weeks‑long absence from Capitol Hill. He said he will continue his recovery at home.
The Senate is set to wrap up legislative business this week before a five‑week August recess, but several agenda items remain – including a vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. McConnell’s absence further narrows Republicans’ already tight path to approving Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period,” McConnell said. “And I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”
His 53‑day absence has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers in both parties. Last month, Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, publicly urged McConnell to release more information about his health, writing: “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office.”
McConnell was admitted to the hospital on 14 June. His office initially offered few details, saying only that he was “continuing to improve”. A month later, McConnell disclosed that a fall at his home and a “mild case of pneumonia” had prompted the hospitalization and his extended time away. In late July, his office said he still had not been cleared to return to work.
Calls grow from Republicans for Max Miller to resign from Congress
Senator John Husted, a Republican from Ohio, has joined the chorus of lawmakers calling for GOP congressman Max Miller to resign.
Husted, who is facing a competitive election November against former Senator Sherrod Brown, noted that Miller’s re-election bid for his US House seat in Ohio does not benefit his family.
“I believe Max would be making the right decision to step aside as a candidate and resign from Congress to focus on what is in the best interest of his daughter,” Husted said in a statement. “Years from now, I believe he will look back and know it was the right choice for her.”
Miller would need to end his campaign by 10 August deadline to allow the state Republican party to pick a replacement nominee for the general election.
Other GOP lawmakers today said that Miller should step down amid the deluge of accusations of domestic violence against him from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno – daughter of Republican senator Bernie Moreno.
Senator Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, called Miller a “degenerate sociopath” in response to a Mother Jones report that alleges Miller would routinely withhold his daughter’s favorite toy bunny from her while sharing custody with his ex-wife.
“Max should step aside and seek help. Staying in this race makes it far more likely we lose this seat and hand Democrats a majority to impeach President Trump,” said Sheehy.
Meanwhile, Katie Britt, a Republican senator from Alabama, told Semafor that Miller should resign.
“When you watch those [Miller] interviews, if you have ever had anyone in your life that has experienced abuse, they were eerie,” Britt told the outlet. “But I stand with Bernie and supporting his daughter and his granddaughter, and hope that others will as well.”
Trump says he is ‘extremely happy’ with Hegseth performance, despite reports of clashes over munition shortages
On Truth Social, Donald Trump insisted that he was “extremely happy” with Pete Hegseth’s job performance as defense secretary.
“Everything has been extraordinary,” the president said, listing the capture of the now-deposed Venzuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the ongoing war in Iran which has seen the price of gas steadily increase over the last six months, inflation reach a three-year high and a reported shortage in critical munitions.
“Pete is highly respected within the Military, and has made tremendous improvements, including getting rid of DEI, and increasing recruitment to historic levels,” Trump added, while dismissing any clashes with the Pentagon leaders as “fake news” spreading “false and completely unfounded rumors”.
This comes after the Washington Post’s earlier report that the president grew frustrated with Hegseth last week at a meeting at Camp David, about the extreme munitions shortages that pose a problem for the military options in Iran, according to two unnamed sources cited by the outlet.
Aram Roston
Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which was set up in January to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, has finally issued its first construction contract in the devastated territory: a project to build a rudimentary 150-person military outpost to house Moroccan troops, a source familiar with the matter told the Guardian.
The contract, which has not yet been finalised, was awarded to Arkel International, a Louisiana-based firm that has previously carried out work with the US government in countries such as Iraq.
In an email, a Board of Peace official said the board and a group of Palestinian technocrats installed to oversee Gaza “are in the final stages of preparing several contract awards. None have been finalised.” The Palestinian group is known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
The official said “one prospective contract concerns facilities to support the international stabilisation force (ISF), which will assist in implementing the roadmap’s security and governance arrangements”.
The award comes just days after Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm, though there are considerable questions about how the group would give up its guns. Israel has opposed the plan, and increased airstrikes in Gaza after Trump’s announcement.
The Guardian reported in July that the board’s original Gaza reconstruction had shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint to rebuild the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip.
The base now being planned is just 100 metres by 120 metres and is intended to house a contingent of Moroccan troops, who would rotate from a base in Israel, the source said. It would lie in the 60% of Gaza’s territory that the Israeli army directly controls. Israeli forces have also created a buffer zone beyond that area.
Trump denies US running short of munitions after reported clash with Hegseth
A reminder that we’re tracking the latest developments out of the Middle East, including the earlier news that Donald Trump hit back at media reports suggesting the US was running low on weapons after five months of war against Iran.
He said the US has “massive amounts of munitions, especially of certain types,” in a Truth Social post last night, adding: “Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.”
The Washington Post (paywall) reports that the president and defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, clashed during a cabinet meeting at Camp David last Friday over the munitions shortages, with Trump reportedly demanding answers after being under the impression the issue “had been fixed”.
The shortages were part of the reason that Trump had to call off what he said would be “the biggest attack since World War II” in recent days, sources told the paper. Hegseth reportedly blamed his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, for the shortages and for Trump not being fully informed on the matter.
“Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history. The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down,” Trump continued in his post.
For more, our colleagues on the Middle East live blog are covering all the latest developments:
Meanwhile, Guardian contributor Stephen Starr has been speaking to voters in Wooster, Ohio – a part of Max Miller’s congressional district.
He reports that Republican voters in the seat are worried, according to local GOP official, Bill Heck – vice-chair of the Republican party of Medina county, which lies inside Miller’s district.
“I think a lot of our members and our steadfast Republicans are concerned,” he said. “I’m sure the president does not want to lose that seat. With 92 days left [to the election] it’s going to be really difficult for anybody to come in and take over the position – if appointed.”
A host of other Republican party county organizations and groups across Miller’s district, including the women’s branch of the Republican party of Cuyahoga county, asking if they thought the congressman should resign, did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment on the situation.
Heck, however, wouldn’t say if he thinks the congressman should step down.
“There is so much stuff flying around that we have not been able to decipher what’s real and what’s not. What we’re trying to determine right now is how much of this is credible and how much he can refute and recover from,” he said.
Before specific details of the allegations against Miller were recently made public and before Senator Moreno’s calls, Miller was expected to easily retain his seat, with pollsters suggesting in June the district leans Republican by five points.
Miller, 37, who had previously served as a presidential aide during Trump’s first administration, was endorsed by Trump in 2021 during his first campaign. But this week, reports emerged that the president’s support for Miller may be waning. The final day the Ohio Republican party could replace Miller with another candidate, if it decides to do so, is 12 August.
Read Stephen’s full report:
Moreno says he has sent daughter, granddaughter and wife ‘out of state’ for safety
As the calls continue to grow for Max Miller, a GOP congressman from Ohio, to resign from Congress over domestic abuse allegations against his ex-wife and daughter, his former father-in-law, Republican senator Bernie Moreno tells CNN’s Jake Tapper that he has now sent his daughter, Emily, as well as his granddaughter and wife “out of state to a secure place until such time as they feel safe”.
This comes as a congressional ethics committee launched an investigation into the allegations against Miller, while he has insisted that he will seek re-election for his seat in this year’s midterms.
Earlier this week, Moreno told reporters that the dispute between his daughter and Miller as “truly the seventh level of hell”, adding: “This has been a horrific experience for my entire family.”
Miller, for his part, posted a livestream video on Sunday defending himself against the abuse accusations and saying his former wife had “significant mental-health challenges”.
Blanche confirmation hangs in the balance as Senate recess looms
The confirmation of Todd Blanche as attorney general remains up in the air as we wait to see whether he has enough Republican votes in the Senate.
Earlier this week, two key GOP holdouts – John Cornyn and Thom Tillis – said they would now support Blanche after he assured them in writing that the proposed $1.8bn fund for Trump allies was dead. But Susan Collins, the moderate from Maine, announced she will vote no, citing Blanche’s role in creating the so‑called “anti‑weaponization fund”.
That leaves two remaining question marks: Lisa Murkowski, another moderate, and Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana senator who lost his primary to a Trump‑backed challenger.
Cassidy said in a radio interview Wednesday that he’s still undecided. “I’ve got to be convinced that he is an attorney general who just happens to have once been President Trump’s personal attorney, as opposed to President Trump’s personal attorney who is now the attorney general,” he said. “I think there’s a big difference between the two.”
With Mitch McConnell still not cleared to return to work after his fall at home and subsequent hospitalization, Blanche needs either Murkowski or Cassidy to get to 50 votes.
JD Vance can break a tie as president of the Senate – but without that, a failed confirmation would be a major setback for Donald Trump’s agenda.
Edward Helmore
Separately, another Senate committee says it obtained a backup copy of Anthony Fauci’s iPhone ahead of Republican lawmakers deciding to hold the veteran government health official in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions amid a hostile inquisition last week.
The phone was used by Fauci during his time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including his time fronting the first Trump administration’s response to the Covid pandemic in 2020.
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chair of the Senate homeland security permanent subcommittee on investigations, said he had obtained a copy of the phone. “Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Johnson wrote on social media on Wedensday.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the copy was transferred by the US Department of Health and Human Services, led by Fauci critic Robert F Kennedy Jr.
