Andy Beshear Visits CNN and Dares Scott Jennings to Call Mitch McConnell Live on Air: ‘Put All the Speculation to Rest!’

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) went on CNN on Tuesday evening and challenged network contributor Scott Jennings to call Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on air if he “supposedly” already talked to him.

Beshear joined CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on The Source where he said he has not received a direct response from McConnell’s team after hitting the senator with an ultimatum: go on camera to show he still has the capacity to do his job in the Senate or resign.

Beshear said:

This is now the second request I’ve made on behalf of the people of Kentucky. Listen, what’s happening here is someone has been away from their job for about six weeks. And anybody who’s watching, if they were away from their job for six weeks, they’d have to call their boss, explain what’s going on, and talk about when they could get back to work. I respect everyone’s privacy, especially with their health. But when you run for these types of offices, you give up some of that privacy.

Beshear’s letter followed a new photo of McConnell with his wife as questions about the 84-year-old senator’s health has caused concerns about debate about age limits for members of Congress. McConnell was hospitalized after being found unconscious in his home in June. McConnell’s team has released two photos of the senator and close allies like Scott Jennings have claimed they’ve spoken to him directly, but he’s done no interviews.

Beshear said if Jennings had “supposedly” talked to McConnell already then he should be able to get him on the phone for CNN and put the “speculation” to rest. Jennings has been pushed to get McConnell on the phone before, but, as Collins noted, he’s thus far “refused” to do so.

The governor said:

Listen, if he supposedly had a 17 minute conversation with Scott Jennings, he can call in and have a three minute conversation with you. He can go to camera and just let us know he’s doing all right, which is what we all ultimately hope for. But it is incumbent upon him to have enough respect from the people of Kentucky and the United States of America to do the bare minimum and be honest and transparent.

Beshear said later he’s not sure if the photos released of McConnell accurately show his condition and argued they “stoked” speculation. He challenged Jennings to get McConnell on the phone on CNN multiple times in the Collins interview.

“To be fair, Scott Jennings works for CNN. He can go on air dial him up, put him on speakerphone, and we can put all the speculation to rest,” he said.

Jennings claimed earlier this month that he spoke to McConnell, whom he calls a mentor, by phone.

“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible,” he said at the time.

Watch above via CNN.

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