After Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) broke his monthlong silence and released both a lengthy statement about his health and a photograph of himself in a hospital with his wife, Elaine Chao. This set off numerous conspiracy theories, mostly from Trump loyalists who share the president’s longstanding antipathy for McConnell, and many arguing that the photo is AI-generated and that McConnell might not be as alive as he claims.
Part of the photo was McConnell holding a copy of that day’s Washington Post sports section, which some argued, falsely, had been faked. But now, that very newspaper has published a convincing debunking of those theories.
McConnell took a photo with that day’s newspaper. The internet has questions.
⁰The Post reviewed metadata consistent with the photo being taken Sunday, but online speculation about McConnell’s health continued. https://t.co/Xw5PsNYAZY— Karol Cummins – New Acct (@karolcummins) July 14, 2026
“The image did not end the speculation about McConnell’s condition. Instead, it prompted more theories and even accusations that the image was fake, the latest test of public trust in the age of artificial intelligence,” the Post said. “On Monday night, The Post reviewed a copy of the original photo — provided by McConnell’s office at The Post’s request — and found that its metadata appears to show it was taken Sunday. An independent digital forensics expert also said there appeared to be no evidence that the image is fake.”
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One viral photo had claimed, very falsely, that the photo was identical to one already posted in 2023:
This post has 3.7m views, zero community notes, and it’s just completely made up nonsense. There is no “widely shared 2023 version” of the same photo, and if McConnell was trying to fool anyone do you really think he’d share an already-public photo? Like, c’mon. https://t.co/rxy4zEqofp
— Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) July 13, 2026
The Post also notes that McConnell, in the picture, is “holding a copy of The Post’s July 12 Sports section, featuring Chris Hacopian, the Washington Nationals’ selection with the No. 11 pick in this year’s MLB draft.” The draft took place the day before, indicating that the photo couldn’t have been taken earlier.
Hany Farid, a digital forensics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, did a separate investigation and did not find any indication that it was faked.
“He said that neither McConnell’s nor Chao’s face looks suspicious, according to an analytical model he used to examine the image. He said that the picture’s lighting is plausible and consistent, and that what is visible of the newspaper in McConnell’s hand is consistent with that day’s Post Sports section.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
