Details Emerge on Mitch McConnell’s Sister in Law’s Death

(UnitedHeadlines.com) – A report released on March 20 contains new details about the Feb. 10 death of billionaire Angela Chao, 50, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Chao’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.233 grams per 100 milliliters, nearly three times the legal limit of .08, when she accidentally backed her Tesla into a pond outside a home in Texas, according to the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office report.

The investigation determined her death was the result of “an unfortunate accident.”

According to the 62-page report, the accident occurred on a 4,500-acre property owned by a corporation connected to her husband, Jim Breyer, in Johnson City, Texas, where the former CEO of Foremost Group, a dry bulk shipping company, was spending a celebratory weekend with her girlfriends. Around 11:37 p.m., following dinner at the guest house, she decided to drive her Tesla Model X SUV to where she was staying on the property, with a video showing her walking to her vehicle “unsteadily.” She called her friends just five minutes later to say she had backed over an embankment near the guest house and she was trapped in her sinking car.

During the eight-minute conversation, she told her friend, Amber Keinan, “‘I love you,’” adding that she was going to die. Someone called 911 while Keinan used a kayak trying to reach Chao, and her other friends swam to try to help her. Police attempted to free Chao from the Tesla submerged in the water 25 yards from the shoreline. According to the report, police were able to break the driver’s side window, pulling her out of the vehicle after being underwater for 21 minutes. Despite resuscitation efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene at around 1:40 a.m. Feb. 11.

Chao is the sister of McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as the secretary of transportation during the Trump administration. When announcing his plan to step down as the Senate Republican leader in November, McConnell mentioned the death of his sister-in-law, saying that “certain introspection” comes with the grieving process, adding that it reminds “you of your own life’s journey.”