Current Events > Fetterman missed nearly every committee hearing and regularly skips votes

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https://x.com/NBCNews/status/1921026162806972705

In the run-up to the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., knew her party had a problem and its name was John Fetterman.

Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, was open to confirming President Donald Trumps embattled pick, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Murray wanted to speak with her colleague one-on-one. So she reached out to set up a time.

But Fetterman refused, as the two people familiar with the episode told NBC News.

He figured that she wanted to yell at him about it, one person familiar with the senators thinking said.

That Fetterman wouldnt even talk to one of the most senior members of his party someone who is well-respected in the caucus and, like Fetterman, has a reputation for being a straight shooter was emblematic of the way Fetterman has operated in the Senate.

This article is based on interviews with 18 former Fetterman staffers, Pennsylvania officials and congressional lawmakers and staffers, many of whom said the senator is increasingly isolated and absent from official business, both in Washington and his home state.

His behavior has received renewed scrutiny after a recent New York magazine article detailing concerns about his mental health from one of his closest former aides, as well as some frustration from Democrats that Fetterman is not on the same page as many other members of the party when it comes to standing up to Trump and his agenda.

The crux of the article focused on a May 2024 letter from Fettermans former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, addressed to Dr. David Williamson, the senators neuropsychiatrist at Walter Reed Medical Center, where Fetterman spent six weeks in 2023 to treat clinical depression. In that letter, which NBC News obtained, Jentleson expressed worry that if his boss stays on his current trajectory he wont be with us for much longer.

We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not, Jentleson wrote. We often see the kind of warning signs we discussed: conspiratorial thinking; megalomania (for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news he declines most briefings and never reads memos); high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room, such as swearing up and down that he didnt say something everyone heard him say a few minutes prior.

A Fetterman spokesperson emphasized that the senator has no intention of resigning and has been transparent about his health, whether related to his stroke or hospitalization at Walter Reed.

"People in his circle and people who talk to him privately know this is John Fetterman," the spokesperson said. "He is not an extrovert. This is how he functions. He does care about Pennsylvania, he keeps a busy schedule, hes meeting with people all the time. For the most part, he votes along party lines and has good relationships with his colleagues."

"There are expectations of a stereotypical politician that he has never once expressed that he was going to try to be," this person added. "People knew he was breaking from tradition and they elected him for that reason."

On Tuesday, Fetterman said that the New York magazine article was built on one source with a couple anonymous sources, describing it as a hit piece from a very left publication.

Fetterman added Friday to NBC News that the article "decided to platform a grudge fashioned by best friends and disgruntled staffers unwilling to put their names on it."

"My actual doctors and my family affirmed that Im in good health," he said.

In response to Fettermans earlier pushback, Jentleson said on Tuesday, I stand by what I said and hope he gets the help he needs.

He hasn't been the same since that stroke.

From what I remember about it he had been on blood thinners and had been fairly non-compliant in taking it.

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won. What a terrible Senator.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won.

What a horrible thing to say.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won.

*facepalm*

He needs to resign. He isn't fit for office.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won. What a terrible Senator.

No. As shitty and stupid as Fetterman is, do we want a second PA senator to vote with Republicans 95-100% of the time?

He should resign. But my guess is instead ends up leaving the Democratic party and becoming an independent when it becomes obvious that he is going to get primaried. And that is years away.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won. What a terrible Senator.

It's a testament to how bad the GOP that a corrupt, literally brain damaged Israel shill is still 100% better than a Republican. Fetterman was still the right choice between the two even with hindsight.

Time to primary Fetterman.

His seat ain't due for a while but as a Fetterman voter I plan on doing just that.

Maybe we shouldn't elect someone who suffered from a stroke?

Sure Dr. Oz would have been worse but Fetterman was a mistake.

creativerealms posted...

Maybe we shouldn't elect someone who suffered from a stroke?

Sure Dr. Oz would have been worse but Fetterman was a mistake.

Hindsight is always 20/20

A_Good_Boy posted...

Hindsight is always 20/20

But looking back it's still a bit fuzzy

It baffles me that Dr. Oz was ever even considered for politics.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won. What a terrible Senator.

Naw, even with his very literal brain damage Fetterman is still better than Oz. Yes, it's absolutely insane that this is the case.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/13/fetterman-staff-00344618

Two more aides left John Fettermans office in recent weeks, the latest in a stream of staff exits amid the Pennsylvania senators shifting political persona and questions about his health.

chaos_knight posted...

Maybe Dr. Oz should have won. What a terrible Senator.

Conor Lamb was right there man

Fetty Flop is shooting for that sweet MAGAt cabinet position.

They won't insult him for chasing a black kid with a gun.

Weird, I get read the riot act in my workplace if I ever appear to not be busy regardless of my actual output

I'd imagine I'd be fired outright if I didn't show up at all

It bugs me that politcians can just choose when they want to show up for work and whether they feel like working when they do show up