Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday released a new ‘proof of life’ photo amid a prolonged absence from the Senate.

McConnell posted a photo of himself smiling in a rehab bed next to his wife, Elaine Chao amid a 44-day absence.

“Senator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June,” read a statement from the Capitol’s Office of Attending Physician.

“OAP physicians visit with the Senator every day, discussing all aspects of his rehabilitation care. Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls. His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility,” the statement read.

NEW — McConnell’s office releases new photo of him and his wife Elaine Chao. Photo was taken yesterday, per his office

McConnell says in new statement he’s “keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders”

Office of the Attending Physician says McConnell has… pic.twitter.com/l1QVuFEoWJ

— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) July 27, 2026

Earlier this month McConnell released his first proof of life photo shortly after Senator Lindsey Graham unexpectedly passed away.

Rumors began swirling last week that McConnell was ‘brain dead’ and being kept alive by machines.

According to the statement, McConnell did not suffer from a heart attack or a stroke.

The 84-year-old Kentucky Senator said he was hospitalized after he took a fall.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” McConnell said.

“Senator McConnell has experienced several falls throughout the year that have been attributed to his post-polio condition. He was admitted to the hospital four weeks ago after falling at home and sustaining minor injuries,” a statement from the Office of the Attending Physician said.

MCCONNELL releases a photo – and statement.

“To my fellow Kentuckians –

“When you elected me to a seventh term and made me our Commonwealth’s longest serving Senator, you did so trusting that I’d keep showing up to fight for you every day. And over the past several weeks,… pic.twitter.com/YTzTXDhEgu

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 12, 2026

The post McConnell Releases New ‘Proof of Life’ Photo appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The Gateway Pundit reported that Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee,recently released diary entries, Tony’s Diary Package, from former White House COVID advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The release shows a bizarre obsession with fame and also indicates he believed the COVID death rate was far lower than what he told lawmakers while under oath.

The diaries were public as part of the committee’s ongoing oversight investigation.

Senator Paul shared a series of statments X about the diary and the release, “My investigation uncovered that Anthony Fauci kept a diary. What he wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories. Today I’m releasing his entries from December 2019 through December 2022.”

“While publicly posturing as a champion of science, he was privately directing his staff to destroy federal records.  This is a blatant violation, a betrayal of the public trust, and further proof that Fauci engaged in a coverup from the very beginning of the pandemic. I’m going to ask him about this when he goes under oath this Wednesday.”

In testimony before the House Oversight Committee on March 11, 2020, Fauci told lawmakers, “The stated mortality over all of this when you look at all the data including China is about three percent. It first started off as two and three.”

Fox News notes that, when asked by Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) to compare the mortality from COVID-19 to the mortality of the seasonal flu, he responded, “I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around one percent, which means it is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”

“I think that is something that people can get their arms around and understand.”

Yet, on page 19 of the document, he wrote, referencing former CDC Director Tom Frieden, ” Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak.”

“He and I are on the same page in thinking tht this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%.”

Fauci also complained in the diary that Elon Musk was attacking him on X, and it clearly got under his skin (pages 1138-1140).

He wrote, “All of a sudden, Elon Musk has started to viciously attack me with tweets on Twitter,” and, “Many people in the press and outside are asking about and concerned about the attacks on
me by Elon Musk.

But Musk wasn’t wrong in his hope that Fauci faces consequences.

My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022

Following the release of the diary, Musk weighed in again with a fresh trolling, “Fauci smelled it and he also dealt it.”

Fauci smelled it and he also dealt it https://t.co/2K2oGmogO2

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 27, 2026

Fauci is scheduled to testify on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. ET at a public hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The post ‘Tony’s Diary’ Indicates Fauci Believed COVID-19 Death Rate was Far Lower Than What He Told Lawmakers Under Oath appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Piracy is back in force.

Maritime commerce has become increasingly more dangerous lately, with attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, among others.

Now, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa have returned to the list, as Somali pirates take full advantage of the instability caused by the Iran war to get back to their predatory ways.

Reports arise that the Horners are using a hijacked cargo ship as a springboard to capture other vessels in a resurgence of attacks.

JUST IN: Somali pirates have been using hijacked cargo ship as a “mothership” to capture other vessels.

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) July 27, 2026

The Telegraph reported:

“Two Iranian fishing boats were captured on July 16 by pirates operating from a 330ft cement carrier they had seized earlier this year.

At one point last week, six captured vessels were being held off the Puntland coast as the pirates demanded hefty ransoms. Two of the vessels were released on Saturday.”

The Iran conflict left naval patrols overstretched, so the Horners are again using captured cargo ships as pirate ‘motherships’: bases to raid vessels in the Indian Ocean, a tactic used during the height of Somali piracy 15 years ago.

“Their attacks were the scourge of maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean, leading to hundreds of millions of pounds in ransom payments and billions more in extra costs to international trade.

[…] Intelligence sources said pirates had begun using the MV Sward cargo ship as a mothership after capturing the vessel on April 26, along with its crew of 15 Syrians and two Indians. The vessel was hijacked after it departed the port of Suez in Egypt on its way to Mombasa in Kenya.”

Reuters reported:

“A merchant ship ​hijacked in Yemeni waters in the Gulf of ‌Aden last week is now being held by Somali pirates, two residents of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region told Reuters ​on Thursday.

The ship, the MT Asana, is ​a Tanzanian-flagged fuel and chemical tanker. One of the ⁠residents who spoke to Reuters described himself as ​a former pirate. He said there were 20 crew ​members on board the MT Asana, including eight from Germany and 10 from the Philippines.

Germany’s foreign ministry said it did ​not comment on abductions of German nationals overseas ​as a matter of principle.”

Read more from May:

SEA DANGER: Somali Pirates Hijack Another Oil Tanker, This Time off the Coast of Yemen

The post Somali Pirates Are Back, Using a Hijacked Cargo Tanker as a ‘Mothership’ to Attack Other Vessels off the Horn of Africa appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Sunday to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him when he lands in New York for the UN General Assembly. 

The Prime Minister is traveling to the United States this week for an eighth sit-down with President Trump at the White House. He announced his departure on X this morning, writing, “In our meeting, we will discuss all the issues on the table, with Iran at the forefront. Our goal is clear: to safeguard Israel’s security, strengthen its power, and expand the circle of peace around us.” Netanyahu added, “During the visit, I will also pay my last respects to a true friend of mine and of the State of Israel, Senator Lindsey Graham—one of Israel’s greatest friends of all time.”

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Mamdani sat for an interview with the New York Times this month, where he upped the ante on a campaign promise to “arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Mamdani said he’s engaged in an “active conversation” with his legal department to find out “what the prospects are” to arrest Netanyahu for war crimes when he lands in New York for the UN General Assembly in September.

“Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani said, referencing Prison Scheveningen in The Hague, Netherlands, home of the United Nations Detention Unit (UNDU) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) Detention Center.

WATCH:

However, Mamdani later walked back the empty threat, saying, Netanyahu is “not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large” but still admitting he has no power to enforce the International Criminal Court warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest.

“It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant,” the mayor said. “The federal government, however, does — and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”

During an interview on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Netanyahu said he is “not concerned” and still plans to attend the UN General Assembly in New York.

Netanyahu further decried the charges against him as politically motivated and slammed Mamdani for “trying to turn one group against the other” and “foisting hate and fear.” Netanyahu added, “I don’t think it’s accidental that after he made this hate speech against Israel and against me, the next day a Jew is stabbed coming out of a synagogue. I think, and with a cry of Allah is Akbar, Allah Akbar, and you know what that means.”

“What we’re doing is trying to fight this genocidal terrorist organization that embeds itself among civilians, prevents us from moving the civilians out of harm’s way; they use gunpoint. That’s where the real criminals are, but Mandani is aligning himself with the criminals, and with these murderers,” the Prime Minister continued. “But the worst thing is that he’s tormenting his own citizens, his own voters. No, that is wrong. And I, you know, I’ve been to New York so many times, Maria, over the years. I’ve met all the New York mayors. They all saw themselves as mayors of all New Yorkers, not pitting one part of the population against the other.”

WATCH:

More from Fox:

The post WATCH: “He’s Tormenting His Own Citizens” – Netanyahu Slams Mamdani in Response to Arrest Threats, Says He Will Attend UN General Assembly in New York appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Documents obtained by journalist and Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren reportedly show that the Obama administration had an opportunity to arrest convicted murderer Joran van der Sloot during a sting operation, only days before he committed a second murder.

The award-winning journalist intends to publish FBI documents she obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, as well as with the help of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, that show the FBI “bungled” the sting and then “kept it quiet” from the public.

Susteren also intends to release video footage of the sting itself.

She made the announcement on Facebook.

Released to her courtesy of President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, the new documents and video reportedly show that the Obama FBI “bungled” a sting operation by failing to arrest Van der Sloot in 2010 for the murder of Natalee Holloway.

Twenty days before Van der Sloot murdered Stephany Flores Ramírez on May 30, 2010, an intermediary working for the FBI paid van der Sloot an initial $25,000 out of $250,000 ($10,000 in cash, $15,000 wired) in exchange for information about Holloway’s remains, according to NPR. The information turned out to be false.

The Obama DOJ, then under the direction of Attorney General Eric Holder, subsequently waited until June 3, 2010 before charging Van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud. By then, Ramírez was dead.

Critics have long maintained that the Obama FBI should have immediately arrested Van der Sloot when they had the chance.

It’s not yet clear what Susteren’s documents and video will show. She noted in her Facebook post that “some” of the FBI documents are “handwritten” and make mention of Holder “warning them not to screw it up.” Screw what up? Reportedly the “cover up.”

In a post published to the social media platform X, Susteren stressed that it’d taken her years to retrieve the documents.

It took YEARS to pry the evidence (FOIA etc) out of the FBI…I would have loved to have finished this project years ago https://t.co/BI7nkLezGD

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) July 26, 2026

Holloway was an 18-year-old Alabama high school graduate who went missing on May 30, 2005, while on a post-graduation trip in Aruba. She was last seen early that morning leaving a popular nightclub in the company of Van der Sloot, then 17, and two other young men, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe.

Aruban authorities conducted an extensive investigation and detained Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers based on the suspicion that they were involved in Holloway’s murder. However, they were released because investigators lacked enough evidence to bring formal charges.

In late 2007, Aruban prosecutors closed the close against the three without filing any cases. Holloway’s body has never been found. At her father’s request, an Alabama court issued a legal declaration of her death in early 2012, according to CNN.

Van der Sloot was eventually convicted of Ramírez’s murder in Peru in 2012 and sentenced to 28 years in Peruvian prison. In 2023, he received 18 additional years for trafficking drugs while incarcerated.

In 2023, he pleaded guilty in relation to the extortion and wire-fraud charges filed by the Obama administration years earlier. As part of the deal, he purported to tell the authorities what really happened with Holloway — that he’d bludgeoned her with a cinder block on an Aruba beach and disposed of her body in the ocean.

Susteren recently alleged that this admission from Van der Sloot was a lie:

This, among several other facts, shows Joran van der Sloot lied to the Federal Judge – no “huge cinder block” was ever found on the beach…and if this had happened this way (it did not), the cinder block would have been full of blood…that beach we searched right after Natalee… pic.twitter.com/eJtigkTFpm

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) July 26, 2026

Despite the admission, Van der Sloot was never charged in or convicted of Holloway’s murder.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

The post Natalee Holloway Murderer’s Deadly Twist: Trump’s DOJ Releases Docs on FBI Decisions That May Have Cost a Life Under Eric Holder appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.