Senator Corrects Trump Comment: ‘I’m Not Hospitalized’

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) corrected President Donald Trump on Wednesday after the President continued to incorrectly claim that a hospitalized senator had prevented a vote on the most recent failed Obamacare repeal bill.

Thanks for the well-wishes. I'm not hospitalized, but am recuperating at home in Mississippi and look forward to returning to work soon.

— Senator Thad Cochran (@SenThadCochran) September 27, 2017

The Graham-Cassidy legislation to repeal Obamacare failed to muster enough support for a floor vote after a third Republican senator — Susan Collins (R-ME), who joined John McCain (R-AZ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) — announced on Monday she would not support the measure.

But on Wednesday, in a tweet and a statement to reporters later in the day, Trump blamed one senator “in the hospital” for holding up the effort.

“We have the votes for health care,” he told reporters as he walked to Marine One. “We have one senator that’s in the hospital. He can’t vote because he’s in the hospital.”

“Are you talking about Cochran?” a reporter asked.

“He can’t vote because he’s in the hospital,” Trump continued. “We have two other votes that are coming and we will have them. The problem is we can’t have them by Friday because the reconciliation ends by Friday. So we’ll have to do it in January or February. But I feel we have the votes. I’m almost certain we have the votes.”

In fact, Cochran’s been correcting the President all day. His office sent out a similar statement Wednesday morning, seemingly responding to another incorrect tweet from the President.

With one Yes vote in hospital & very positive signs from Alaska and two others (McCain is out), we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017

Appears Trump is referring to @SenThadCochran, whose office says he is NOT in the hospital, but is back home recuperating—> pic.twitter.com/D3fG6wGLVC

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 27, 2017