Two aides to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman left his office shortly before the publication of a story calling into question the Democrat’s health.
Caroline Shaffer and Madeleine Marr parted ways with the senator in the lead-up to a May 2 New York magazine story revealing that current and former staffers were concerned about Fetterman’s mental and physical well-being, Politico reported Tuesday.
The two had worked in Fetterman’s office since early 2023, according to Legistorm.
The pair’s exit is the latest instance of the frequent turnover in Fetterman’s office.
His legislative director, Tré Easton, and his communications director, Charlie Hills, left in February. The senator’s prior communication director, Carrie Adams, had exited the previous month.
Additionally, three top communications advisers left in March 2024. Fetterman’s chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, stepped down from that role into an advisor role that April.
Jentleson, according to the New York magazine article, penned a letter last May about his then-boss to the medical director of the traumatic brain injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed Medical Hospital.
Fetterman, who had been treated for depression there in early 2023 after his 2022 stroke, was “on a bad trajectory,” Jentleson wrote.
“We do not know if he is taking his meds and his behavior frequently suggests he is not,” Jentleson added.
The article cited current and former staffers who said Fetterman had become erratic, manic, and showed paranoia at times.
Fetterman called the report a “hit piece,” and said Jentleson was holding a “weird grudge.”
And as for the high turnover, Fetterman told the magazine that that’s not uncommon on Capitol Hill.
Those comments may not be enough to prevent Fetterman’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate from taking action, though. Yesterday, The Hill reported that three senators are figuring out the best way to help.
“I know we’re all in touch with each other having conversations about how to intervene,” one said. “I haven’t heard anybody say they’re not worried about it.”
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