Independent journalist Nick Sortor on Sunday posted a video on X claiming that a hospital employee had confirmed Democratic Party U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s recent patient status at the Lindner Center of Hope.
The center, located in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati, is a nonprofit facility providing inpatient, residential, and outpatient mental health and psychiatric services, including around-the-clock treatment. Sortor’s post, which included a roughly 47-second recording of a phone conversation, stated that the employee told him and Rhein Amacher that Talarico “had in fact been a patient” there and was discharged earlier that week.
Sortor uploaded an audio recording that contained portions of the phone conversation. “So nothing for James Talarico?” Amacher can be heard saying in the recording. “Umm… let me see it looks, well… it looks like he was just discharged this evening. That’s why I don’t have it,” the employee responded after a brief pause.
“Oh he was discharged then?” Amacher followed up, at which point the employee answered with, “mm-hmm.”
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Ohio mental hospital CONFIRMS James Talarico was discharged from the facility earlier this week
The “flu” thing was a BIG FAT LIE
Following reporting by @SaraGonzalesTX and @CarolineWren, a hospital employee told @RheinAmacher and I that Talarico had in… pic.twitter.com/VDdfKoaAFG
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 11, 2026
JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico, denied the report in a social media post. “This is a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory. Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas recovering from the flu,” Ennis posted on X.
Amacher responded to Ennis’ denial by pointing to flight records that showed an Austin-based prove jet departing Austin for Butler County Airport in Hamilton, Ohio, located roughly 20 minutes from Lindner Center of Hope.
The aircraft overnighted and returned to Austin at 10:24 a.m. local time. The timing aligned with Talarico’s reappearance that afternoon at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, his first in-person public appearance in Texas after an extended absence.
“Bring the lawsuit. I welcome the discovery,” Amacher posted on X in response.
Talarico’s campaign attributed his nine-day absence from the campaign trail to a bout with the flu. Ennis stated that after more than 100 public events, “James came down with the flu but will be back on the trail this weekend” or soon thereafter.
On September 30, Talarico joined a United States Hispanic Business Council event virtually, where he told attendees that he had visited urgent care in Dallas the night before, was diagnosed with the flu, had a fever, and was in his most contagious period after “shaking too many hands on the campaign trail.”
He reappeared at the festival on October 9, where he told a New York Times reporter he had dealt with “a nasty case of the flu” and been “home sick in bed,” adding, “Just a reminder not to believe everything you read on the internet.” The campaign has not issued a public response specifically addressing the Lindner Center claims as of this report.
POLL: Should Sanctuary Cities Be Banned From Federal Funding?
Continue reading...
[ H/T Trending Politics ]
