Kamala Harris’ vice presidential top picks came down to two candidates on Monday afternoon—Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz—with the Democratic presidential candidate expected to announce her selection by Tuesday.
Reuters has reported Shapiro and Walz are the remaining pair in the running, with Harris scheduled to make her first public appearance with her pick on Tuesday night at Temple University in Philadelphia.
As speculation continues, with tight odds between the pair, social media posts claimed that Pennsylvania Senator and Shapiro’s political colleague John Fetterman had been “saying Josh Shapiro can’t be trusted.”
The Claim
Multiple posts on Telegram by conspiracy theorist Jack Posbiec, posted on August 4, 2024, claimed that Senator John Fetterman believes Governor Josh Shapiro “can’t be trusted.”
“John Fetterman is the most high profile politician in all of Pennsylvania. And yet he hasn’t appeared at any of these events with Josh Shapiro since he has been named as a potential VP pick,” Posobiec wrote.
“Fetterman knows Shapiro cant be trusted.”
Elsewhere, Posobiec said: “John Fetterman is the most high-profile Democrat in PA and is saying Josh Shapiro can’t be trusted.
“That’s why you haven’t seen Fetterman at any of these Shapiro for VP events.
“CNN won’t touch this bc Tapper and Shapiro are BFFL’s.”
The Facts
There has been a report from unnamed sources close to conversations involving Fetterman, expressing what they say are his misgivings about Shapiro amid vice presidential rumors.
However, the allegations do not say that Shapiro “can’t be trusted” outright, the comments have not come directly from Fetterman and there is more nuance to the comments than the social media posts imply.
Over the weekend, Politico reported that Fetterman had concerns about Shapiro as a VP pick and that those concerns had been passed to Kamala Harris‘ team, according to “three people familiar with the conversations.”
Politico reported that Fetterman’s advisers had suggested to Harris’ team that the senator “believes that Shapiro is excessively focused on his own personal ambitions.”
One of their alleged disagreements was when Shapiro and Fetterman served on Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons. The article mentions one decision in detail—the pardoning of brothers Lee and Dennis Horton, convicted for a 1993 fatal shooting and robbery for which they maintained their innocence.
Shapiro had voted against granting clemency in 2019, against the advocation of Horton’s prison superintendent. Shapiro would later vote in their favor in December 2020. Politico alleges that Fetterman saw the matter as an example of Shapiro “putting his political future ahead of doing what Fetterman thought was right.”
Newsweek has contacted media representatives for Shapiro and Fetterman via email for comment.
The article does not say that Fetterman believes Shapiro “can’t be trusted” in those exact words and Fetterman’s camp has not commented on the record. Furthermore, social media posts such as Posobiec’s do not provide any context or further information about what that claim means.
The Ruling
Needs Context.
John Fetterman has not said publicly that Josh Shapiro “can’t be trusted.” The claim is based on a Politico article that alleges Fetterman’s advisers have raised concerns about Shapiro to Kamala Harris’ team. Politico reported that people close to these conversations say Fetterman’s advisers suggested the senator “believes that Shapiro is excessively focused on his own personal ambitions.”
The article is based on unnamed sources, with background detail between Shapiro and Fetterman provided as context. It does not say outright that Shapiro “can’t be trusted” and the posts alleging this do not provide the context or nuance behind the story. Suggesting that Shapiro “can’t be trusted” is a far broader claim than the article alone states.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
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