Sen. John Fetterman on Tuesday denied alarming allegations from those close to him that his mental health has diminished, and said he would not resign.
Current and former staffers made detailed claims about the Pennsylvania Democrat to New York Magazine over the weekend, including that he had become erratic, manic and exhibited paranoia following his May 2022 stroke.
In a CNN interview Tuesday afternoon, Fetterman called the report a “hit piece,” said he is following prescribed medical guidance, denied driving recklessly, and vowed to stay in office.
“It’s a one-source hit piece, and it involved maybe two or three and anonymous disgruntled staffers saying just absolute false things,” he said.
The senator denied being off his medications, and said he has been adhering to his doctors’ advice.
“It’s incredibly invasive,” Fetterman said of suggestions otherwise. “And why are people talking about anyone’s personal medical things? It’s that, you know, I think most people would agree that’s really, really invasive.”
Fetterman’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, had written a May 2024 letter about his then-boss to the medical director of the traumatic brain injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed Medical Hospital, where Fetterman had been treated for depression in early 2023.
“I think John is on a bad trajectory, and I’m really worried about him,” Jentleson wrote, according to the report, adding that he “won’t be with us for much longer” if he didn’t change.
“We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not,” Jentleson added.
Fetterman was prescribed medication for depression, but would say at times that he felt so great that he didn’t “need” it, according to New York.
Jentleson also worried about risky behavior, like the senator driving recklessly while reading and using FaceTime.
Fetterman got into a two-car wreck in Maryland last June, with police saying he was speeding and “at fault.”
The New York Magazine piece quotes an officer telling a Fetterman staffer over the phone about what had transpired: “It’s a miracle no one died.”
Fetterman told CNN that his former chief of staff was holding a “weird grudge.”
“If you’re really concerned about someone, you could say, hey, let’s sit down. Can we talk? It’s not … like going to the media,” he said.
Jentleson told CNN that that he is standing by what he had said, adding of Fetterman: “I hope he gets the help he needs.”
Fetterman said “of course” he intends on being a senator for the remainder of his term, which expires in 2028. When it comes to a potential reelection campaign that year, he said, “Who knows what’s going to happen in ’28.″
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