John Fetterman had an outburst that made one of his own staffers cry when meeting last week with a teachers’ union – the latest story of the maverick Pennsylvania Senator’s health troubles.
The meeting took place the day before a bombshell report blew the lid off of the closely guarded health history of her 55-year-old Pennsylvania senator husband.
Fetterman was talking to representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things went haywire.
The senator began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why ‘everybody is mad at me,’ ‘why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do’ and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.
As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying.
The staffer was comforted by the teachers who were themselves rattled by Fetterman’s behavior, according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting.
Asked about the meeting with teachers union representatives, Fetterman said in a statement through his office that they ‘had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration´s cuts to our education system.’
He also said he ‘will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone’s attempt to turn Pennsylvania´s public schools into a voucher program.’
John Fetterman had an outburst that mad one of his own staffers cry when meeting last week with a teachers’ union, in the latest story of the maverick Pennsylvania Senator’s health troubles
The meeting happened the day before a bombshell report blew the lid off of the closely guarded health history of her 55-year-old Pennsylvania senator husband
Reached by telephone, Aaron Chapin, the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association who was in the meeting with Fetterman, said he didn´t want to discuss what was a private conversation.
The interaction at Fetterman’s Washington office came one day before a report by New York Magazine citing several individuals who made concerning accusations against him and claimed he was not taking his medication.
Only one staffer was willing to go public with the claims and Fetterman has denied them.
Some of the anonymous staffers shared marital strife and political disagreements with his wife Gisele.
Former Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson is the most public face of the story, titled ‘The Hidden Struggle of John Fetterman.’
One year after Fetterman’s release from the traumatic-brain-injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed Hospital, Jentleson wrote a letter the division’s director who treated Fetterman there.
‘I think John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him,’ Jentleson wrote in the 1,600-word email with the subject line: ‘Concerns.’
He added that the senator ‘won’t be with us for much longer’ if he doesn’t change his behavior, with Jentleson claiming these are ‘the things you said to flag, so I am flagging.’
Fetterman was talking to representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved
He began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why ‘everybody is mad at me,’ ‘why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do’ and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred
One of the things he was told to flag: that Fetterman purchased a gun, though Jentleson admits the senator ‘takes all the necessary precautions, and living where he does I understand the desire for personal protection.’
Read More
EXCLUSIVE
Inside divide between John Fetterman and his 'missing' wife – as his devastating decline is exposed
Jentleson is referring to the hard-scrabble small town of Braddock where Fetterman served as mayor and still lives.
Fetterman is accused of everything from the physical – ‘not taking his meds’ to eating fast-food multiple times a day – to the mental – lying, ‘self-centered monologues,’ ‘conspiratorial thinking; megalomania’ – among his issues.
The senator is also allegedly obsessed with social media despite admitting it was an ‘accelerant’ of his depression and driving ‘recklessly’ to the point that staffers refused to ride with him and a police officer said it was ‘a miracle no one died’ after one accident last June.
Jentleson also argued that ‘every person who was supposed to help him stay on his recovery plan has been pushed out.’
The former chief of staff later said in an interview a year after writing the letter that he’s telling his side of the story because he believes Fetterman’s trajectory has taken him out of consideration to lead the Democrats going forward.
‘Part of the tragedy here is that this is a man who could be leading Democrats out of the wilderness but I also think he’s struggling in a way that shouldn’t be hidden from the public.’
Fetterman’s campaign is also reportedly bleeding money and losing small-dollar donors ever since he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
As the meeting deteriorated, a Fetterman staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying
Asked about the meeting with teachers union representatives, Fetterman said in a statement through his office that they ‘had a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration´s cuts to our education system’
The author, Ben Terris, spoke to Fetterman ahead of publication and got a text message from him asking: ‘Why is this a story?’
Read More
John Fetterman explodes at pilot over seat belt in video that resurfaced after mental health report
He added that the number of staffers leaving is typical for Washington and he is the ‘best version’ of himself right now.
Fetterman also denied claims that toward the beginning of his first term, he had to be spoken to for ‘an hour’ with staffers ‘trying to trying to convince him, to talk him out of some crazy fantasy’ that he wouldn’t be allowed in the Senate.
He also said there is no truth to accusations that he began to ‘sour’ on his own party after bipartisan efforts to prevent him from wearing his trademark hoodie and shorts to the Senate floor.
Things became somewhat more complicated when asked about arguments over Gaza; he is a staunch Israel supporter, and has met with Trump with his wife Gisele, herself having come to the U.S. as an illegal migrant. Gisele reportedly did not want to join the meeting.
Fetterman called their disagreements ‘very common in political marriage’ and said Gisele ‘has her own voice’.
Gisele, for her part, told New York Magazine that Jentleson is trying to harm her husband and lied to her about his health.
The Pennsylvanian had been the only Democrat senator to grace the halls of Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s historic second win in November.
The interaction at Fetterman’s Washington office, described to The Associated Press by the two people who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, came the day before a report by New York Magazine’s Ben Terris (pictured) where several individuals made concerning accusations against him and claimed he is not making his medication
Former Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson (pictured) is the most public face of the story, titled ‘The Hidden Struggle of John Fetterman’
He described Trump’s mental acumen as strong as ever while speaking to the New York Magazine about the visit.
The meeting went smoothly, lasting around 75 minutes, and Fetterman came out thinking the president had a different persona than he does in public and had ‘fully engaged’ in the conversation.
‘His faculties haven’t slipped at all,’ he told the magazine. ‘It’s not that I admire it – I acknowledge it, and if you don’t, you do it at your own peril politically.’
Fetterman has also been keen to get to know Trump’s top cabinet picks, which has led him to also meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
He even voted for Attorney General Pam Bondi, making him the only Democrat to do so.