Videos recently shared with news outlets and on social media appear to show US Senator Mitch McConnell being carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance last month, offering a small clue on the health of the top Republican lawmaker, who has not been seen in weeks.

Concerns and calls for more information about McConnell, 84, are growing as his stay in hospital approaches the one-month mark.

He was admitted for treatment on 14 June, according to his staff. His aides have not given any details about the reason for his hospital stay, or what kind of treatment he is receiving. While he has reportedly spoken on the phone with a handful of people, he has not appeared in public or in photos, and has not issued a statement on his condition.

The Kentucky senator’s team said on 2 July he was “receiving excellent care” and “continues to improve”.

On Wednesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, sent a letter to McConnell’s office urging the senator to be “transparent” and provide an update on his health amid growing concerns about his “ability to hold office”.

Several US media outlets have reported that 911 emergency calls were made from McConnell’s home seeking help for an “unconscious” person who was suffering from “cardiac arrest”.

The calls also indicated that CPR was being performed on the patient. McConnell, who has served in the Senate for more than 40 years, was not explicitly named in the recording.

As the mystery of McConnell’s health has grown, so too have concerns from both parties – as well as on-line speculation – about his condition.

This week, a video began circulating online of what appears to be McConnell on a stretcher being loaded into an ambulance. The person’s face is not visible in the video, though the individual is removed from McConnell’s home.

A neighbour of McConnell’s described the scene on the morning of 14 June to CNN, saying the entire street was blocked off and the police would only confirm there was a “medical emergency”, not whether it was McConnell who was unwell.

Another eyewitness told the neighbour that it was McConnell on the stretcher, according to CNN.

The ambulance video quickly joined another recent set of clues – phone calls.

On Tuesday, several Republicans, including conservative commentator Scott Jennings, said they had spoken by phone to McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history.

They publicly described the calls after a Trump ally – influencer Laura Loomer – claimed on X the Kentucky senator was in a “vegetative state”. The far-right activist also said McConnell “is brain dead and hooked up to machines”, and alleged a “cover-up”. She did not provide proof for the claims.

Loomer also criticised his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, for visiting China during McConnell’s hospital stay.

The Chinese government has confirmed Chao met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng in Beijing on 17 June, three days after McConnell was admitted to hospital.

A spokesperson for Chao told the BBC on Tuesday evening that McConnell’s health “did not warrant an immediate return”, though Chao has since returned to the US.

“The secretary was on a long-planned trip in China to support her family’s philanthropic endeavors,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “During the trip, she met with a number of people, including the US ambassador.”

In an apparent effort to push back against Loomer’s claims, several Republican colleagues released statements on Tuesday saying they had spoken by phone with the former Senate leader.

A spokesman for Senate Leader John Thune said the two held “a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security”.

McConnell’s office has not released any update on his condition since 2 July, when it said in a statement that the senator “appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital.

“The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

McConnell had previously announced that he would not seek re-election once his term expires in January 2027, and Republican Andy Barr will go up against Democrat Charles Booker in the November midterm election to take over his seat.

In the event of an early vacancy, Kentucky law requires that a special election be held to choose a temporary replacement.

Beshear, the state’s governor, has 30 days to call an election and candidates are given 49 days to decide if they will run and to file the necessary paperwork.

But, because the November election is quickly approaching, there is a tight timeline for that to happen without conflicting with November’s already scheduled midterm election.

Experts have said Beshear must call for a special election by 3 August deadline so that it would not interfere with the midterms.

If McConnell were to vacate his on or after that point, it could set up a legal battle about what comes next.

McConnell has faced several health scares in recent years.

He shocked colleagues and congressional reporters when he abruptly froze while speaking during a press conference in 2023, and that year he suffered a concussion after falling at a hotel in Washington, which kept him away from the Senate for several weeks.

In 2024, he was injured after tripping outside a Senate lunch event, and earlier this year he was admitted to hospital for the flu. McConnell survived polio as a child, which he said in a 2020 interview made it hard for him to climb stairs.

In his years at the top of the Senate, McConnell developed a reputation as a wily tactician and perpetual thorn in the side of Democrats through the use of arcane procedures and blunt political force.

In one of his most consequential moves in 2016, he held up President Barack Obama’s US Supreme Court nomination, allowing Donald Trump to instead appoint a conservative justice when he took office the next year.

Despite supporting much of Trump’s agenda during his first administration, McConnell has become a more vocal critic of the president in his second term.