I’ve been wondering why I haven’t heard from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) lately in the news.
What has been so fascinating about covering him is how he recovered from his stroke and then angered progressives with his support of Israel and more moderate positions on a host of other issues (although not on everything).
His remarks have been clear and cutting against positions some Democrats have taken. So some of them have not been happy with him.
READ MORE: Dem Civil War: Fetterman Tells AOC Exactly What He Thinks of Her on Fight Over CR—It’s Not Pretty
Now, there’s a new story out from New York Magazine based on conversations with staff and former staff, going into great detail about mental health concerns, and indicating that he wasn’t taking proper care of himself.
You even have staffers citing concerns from his wife.
A few days later, Gisele texted a different staffer: “I am at breaking point and I can’t co-sign this any longer. I’d love some help in language to separate myself from this. Can anyone help me?”
In early November, just weeks after the attack, Gisele arrived at her husband’s Senate office and, according to a staffer present, they got into a heated argument.
“They are bombing refugee camps. How can you support this?” the staffer recalled her saying with tears in her eyes.
“That’s all propaganda,” Fetterman replied.
Later, a still visibly upset Gisele pulled the staffer aside. She asked him if members of Fetterman’s team were pushing him to take these stances for political reasons. The staffer told her that the opposite was true: Many of them were as upset as she was. “If you’re pushing back on this, there’s no hope,” the staffer recalled her saying. “This is horrible news.”
A staffer even claims that after expressing concerns about his health, she said, “Who did I marry? Where is the man I married?”
I don’t know about the accuracy of the alleged anecdotes about his health. I hope that he is healthy. But if you’re concerned about your boss, I think there are other ways to approach it. For example, there was a paragraph in the story that read like a staffer was trying to shame Fetterman for hanging fire on the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
Fetterman became so torn by the decision that, on the day of a procedural vote that would move Hegseth’s nomination closer to completion, he floated the idea of not voting at all. “What if I left?” he asked his staff. Instead of voting, he said, maybe he should just sneak out of Washington and hole up at his parents’ place in York, Pennsylvania. “I felt like I was looking at a six-eight 8-year-old,” the staffer said.
The piece also cites Fetterman’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, at length.
The man behind the report, Ben Teris, did relate some of what Fetterman and his wife said in response.
In our conversation, Fetterman downplayed any supposed arguments with Gisele, telling me that she “has her own voice” and that he would never try to change her views, even if they differed from his. “I think that’s very common in political marriage,” he said. In a statement, Gisele suggested Jentleson was part of a conspiracy to damage her husband’s reputation, saying Jentleson fed her “scary, untrue stories about John’s health.” She added, “I would talk to John’s doctors about what Adam was telling me and they would be confused. Those doctors would tell me that their concerns were not with John, but with Adam. Any alleged ‘concerns’ heard from me came straight from those lies, not from John’s doctors or my own eyes.” In response, Jentleson said, “I stand by everything I said, and I hope Senator Fetterman gets the help he needs.”
Teris said that when he spoke with Fetterman, “I didn’t find any indication that the stroke had left him cognitively impaired.” He spoke to him at length for an hour, noting that Fetterman appeared excited to discuss topics with him. Fetterman said his health was better than ever.
Then Teris asked him about what the staffers said.
“I’ve talked to a number of former staffers of yours who say they are worried about you,” I said. “Who say that they are worried that you are not on your recovery plan. That you might not be taking your meds. That they’ve heard you make comments about how you didn’t need them anymore or that you didn’t like the way they made you feel. Do you care to comment on that?”
Teris then says Fetterman went off the record, at the end of which he, Teris, was out in the hallway, implying something unusual went on.
Teris then pressed him on the question. Fetterman called the staffers “disgruntled employees.”
So here’s the thing. The staffers allege issues over a long period, at least over the past couple of years since he took office. Why are we hearing this now, when in fact, in public, he appears clearer than ever in conveying his thoughts? Indeed, moving away from the Democrats’ extreme positions seems a sign of mental health.
Many on X questioned if Fetterman’s problem was less his health and more that some didn’t like his politics, support for Israel, or more moderate takes.
