By MARC LEVY
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was assembly final week with representatives from a lecturers union in his residence state when issues rapidly devolved.
Earlier than lengthy, Fetterman started repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his arms on a desk, in line with one one who was briefed on what occurred.
Because the assembly deteriorated, a employees member moved to finish it and ushered the guests into the hallway, the place she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the lecturers who had been themselves rattled by Fetterman’s conduct, in line with a second one who was briefed individually on the assembly.
The interplay at Fetterman’s Washington workplace, described to The Related Press by the 2 individuals who spoke about it on the situation of anonymity, got here the day earlier than New York Journal revealed a narrative wherein former employees and political advisers to Fetterman aired issues in regards to the senator’s psychological well being.
That story included a 2024 letter, additionally obtained by the AP, wherein Fetterman’s one-time chief of employees Adam Jentleson advised a neuropsychiatrist who had handled Fetterman for despair that the senator gave the impression to be off his restoration plan and was exhibiting alarming conduct, together with an inclination towards “long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues.”
Requested in regards to the assembly with lecturers union representatives, Fetterman mentioned in a press release by way of his workplace that they “had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration’s cuts to our education system.” He additionally mentioned he “will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania’s public schools into a voucher program.”
Reached by phone, Aaron Chapin, the president of the Pennsylvania State Schooling Affiliation who was within the assembly with Fetterman, mentioned he didn’t wish to talk about what was a non-public dialog.
Surviving a stroke, battling despair
The lecturers union encounter provides to the questions being raised about Fetterman’s psychological well being and conduct barely three years after he survived a stroke on the 2022 marketing campaign path that he mentioned virtually killed him. That was adopted by a bout with despair that landed him in Walter Reed Nationwide Navy Medical Heart for six weeks, barely a month after he was sworn into the Senate.
The scrutiny additionally comes at a time when Fetterman, now serving third 12 months of his time period, is being criticized by many rank-and-file Democrats in his residence state for being keen to cooperate with President Donald Trump, amid Democrats’ rising alarm over Trump’s actions and agenda.
Fetterman — who has been identified with cardiomyopathy, wherein the guts muscle turns into weakened and enlarged, and auditory processing dysfunction, a complication from the stroke — has talked brazenly about his battle with despair and urged folks to get assist.
In November, he advised podcast host Joe Rogan that he had recovered and fended off ideas of harming himself.
“I was at the point where I was really, you know, in a very dark place. And I stayed in that game and I am staying in front of you right now and having this conversation,” Fetterman mentioned.
However some who’ve labored intently with Fetterman query whether or not his restoration is full.
Within the 2024 letter to Dr. David Williamson, Jentleson warned that Fetterman was not seeing his docs, had pushed out the individuals who had been supposed to assist him keep on his restoration plan and may not be taking his prescribed medicines. Jentleson additionally mentioned Fetterman had been driving recklessly and exhibiting paranoia, isolating him from colleagues.
“Overall, over the last nine months or so, John has dismantled the early-warning system we all agreed upon when he was released,” Jentleson wrote. “He has picked fights with each person involved in that system and used those fights as excuses to push them out and cut them off from any knowledge about his health situation.”
Walter Reed Nationwide Navy Medical Heart, the place Williamson works, declined to make him accessible for an interview, citing privateness and confidentiality legal guidelines defending affected person medical info.
A lone wolf within the Senate
Fetterman has lengthy been a wild card within the political realm, forging a profession largely on his personal, independently from the Democratic Get together.
As a small-town mayor in Braddock, the plainspoken Fetterman grew to become a minor celeb for his bare-knuckled progressive politics, his appears — he’s 6-foot-8 and tattooed with a shaved head — and his unconventional efforts to place the depressed former metal city again on the map.
Elected to the Senate in 2022, he has made waves along with his informal costume — hoodies and fitness center shorts — at work and at formal occasions and his willingness to chastise different Democrats.
Fetterman returned to the Senate after his hospitalization in 2023 a way more outgoing lawmaker, regularly joking along with his fellow senators and interesting with reporters within the hallways with the help of an iPad or iPhone that transcribes conversations in actual time.
But two years later, Fetterman continues to be one thing of a loner within the Senate.
He has separated himself from lots of his fellow Democrats on Israel coverage and argued at instances that his celebration must work with, not in opposition to, Trump. He met with Trump and Trump’s nominees — and voted for some — when different Democrats wouldn’t.
He has stood firmly with Democrats in different circumstances and criticized Trump on some points, corresponding to commerce and meals support.
One notably head-scratching video of Fetterman emerged earlier this 12 months wherein he was on a flight to Pittsburgh apparently arguing with a pilot over his seatbelt.
Regardless of fallout with progressives over his staunch help of Israel in its battle in Gaza, Fetterman was nonetheless an in-demand persona final 12 months to marketing campaign within the battleground state of Pennsylvania for Biden and, after Biden dropped his reelection bid, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since Trump gained November’s election — and Pennsylvania — issues have modified. Many one-time supporters have turned on Fetterman over his softer method to Trump and his willingness to criticize fellow Democrats for elevating alarm bells.
It however introduced Fetterman plaudits.
Invoice Maher, host of the political discuss present “Real Time with Bill Maher,” instructed that Fetterman ought to run for president in 2028. Conservatives — who had lengthy made Fetterman a goal for his progressive politics — have sprung to Fetterman’s protection.
Nonetheless, Democrats in Pennsylvania say they’re listening to from folks anxious about him.
“People are concerned about his health,” mentioned Sharif Avenue, the state’s Democratic Get together chairman. “They want to make sure he’s OK. People care about him. There’s a lot of love for him out there.”
Initially Revealed: Might 8, 2025 at 11:17 AM EDT
