Fact-checker struggles to defuse wild Mitch McConnell death rumors

News of Sen. Mitch McConnell's “dead body” being transported to a Kentucky coroner continued to rage across social media this week, eventually forcing Snopes to step in and try to debunk the claims.

According to one video post catching fire on Wednesday — with more than 1.3 million followers on their @epistemiccrisis Instagram account — McConnell's body had been delivered to Kentucky Central State Hospital in Louisville.

“One of the video creator's viewers sent him messages claiming that a body covered with a flag was carried to the coroner's office in the hospital. A procession also allegedly took place. The same messages claimed the Louisville Metro Police would not comment on the procession. The footage also featured a Facebook post, with comments discussing blocked traffic in the area,” said Snopes.

“In short, the claim is false,” Snopes added, however. “There has been no official confirmation that McConnell has died. There is also no evidence his alleged dead body was transported to the coroner's office in Kentucky, nor is there any public statement from Louisville Police commenting on a procession for the senator's passing. The creator of the video making the claim also later posted a retraction.”

The video's creator relied on text messages from an unnamed individual, and The Louisville Metro Police Department issued no statement about the procession or McConnell on its Facebook page, or any of its social media pages, reported Snopes. And even though the original poster retracted the post, this has done nothing to tamp down the flurry of conspiracies that the Republican Party is fighting.

McConnell’s team has attempted to defuse the worst of the conspiracies with photos of the senator allegedly posing with his spouse, but politicians, including one candidate seeking his seat has finally confronted the question: "Is Mitch McConnell still alive?"

The senator has been hospitalized since mid-June, when he was found unresponsive at his home, and he has not been seen or heard from in public since then. McConnell's office has insisted that he is on the road to recovery, and released two "proof of life" photos. However, given the continued lack of video evidence showing the senator in good health, skeptics remain unconvinced, a situation made worse by the questionable details in them that observers continue to unearth.

A detail in the second photo released by the senator's office on July 26 features McConnel’s wife Elaine Chao wearing a particular button-up shirt featuring a pattern with peach-colored seashells. But observers point out that Chao appears to be wearing the same outfit when she was photographed outside the hospital two weeks ago while going to visit McConnell — an "odd coincidence" that leave critics to speculate that the second photo was actually taken on July 11, and not on July 26, as his office claimed.

More recently, the senator’s extended absence from the public caused suspicion at the recent Fancy Farms picnic in Kentucky, which the senator has been attending regularly for decades. This year, owing to his purported health issues, he was unable to attend, leaving crowds at the event to chant, "Where's Mitch?"