The media focus on Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) hasn't yet seen a reprieve, and it appears that some insiders are looking to throw even more shade.

The lawmaker says former aides who voiced their concerns about his mental health have a “bizarre grudge” against him, according to the lawmaker.

Fetterman was a big topic in the news when he was hospitalized in 2023 for clinical depression. That event was just nine months after he suffered a stroke, but he asserts that he has recovered well and is competent enough to serve out his Senate term.

This is despite the fact that his former chief of staff previously warned him that he is acting erratically and that he could be a threat to himself.

Fetterman's Comments

“For me, it’s like in the ‘Goodfellas’: everyone takes a beating sometimes,” he told video journalist Nicholas Ballasy when he was asked about accusations of erratic behavior from former staff members to New York Magazine.

“It was just a dumb hit piece, and we’ve all moved on,” Fetterman said.

The first-term senator, who is 55 years old, accused Adam Jentleson and other former staff members of harboring a "bizarre grudge" against him.

“A bizarre, bizarre grudge,” he said when asked what was the possible motivation for the former staff to raise questions about his health. “Like I said, we’ve all moved on.”

From the Hill

According to New York Magazine, a longtime Capitol Hill employee named Jentleson who had previously worked for Harry Reid (D-Nev.), expressed his worries about Fetterman's health and conduct in a 1,600-word email sent to the senator's doctor at Walter Reed Hospital.

When Fetterman was committed to the hospital in 2023, the former aide noted symptoms that the doctor had warned about. These included "conspiratorial thinking, megalomania, highs and lows, long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues."

The assistant cautioned that Fetterman's fixation on social media site X was a contributing factor to his depression and that his driving was so "recklessly" that coworkers were afraid to ride shotgun with him.

Earlier Comments

“I think John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him,” he reportedly said in the email, sent in May of 2024.

During his tenure in the Senate, which began in 2023, Fetterman has experienced a high rate of staff turnover. Additionally, he has angered members of the Democratic base with his unwavering support of Israel's military operations in Gaza and his outreach to President Donald Trump.