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🇺🇸 United States /Elections & Politics

Fetterman Texts Show Impatience With Constituent Duties

From CBS News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Text messages reviewed by CBS News indicate that Sen. John Fetterman dismissed or avoided meetings, events and other constituent-service duties, according to a former staffer who confirmed their accuracy.
  • The exchanges include allegations that he avoided meeting paralyzed military veterans, declined requests from a children’s hospital and resisted attending slain officers’ funerals.
  • Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Chris Deluzio and Brendan Boyle criticized Fetterman, while his office did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment.

Text messages obtained by CBS News portray Sen. John Fetterman as increasingly unwilling to carry out basic constituent-service duties. The messages, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, indicate that he routinely dismissed or refused meetings with constituents, events in Pennsylvania and committee hearings.

You can't have any sort of substantial conversation with him about any policy or strategy without it becoming completely derailed or unhinged.

· Former Fetterman stafferCharacterizing the senator’s approach to policy and strategy discussions.

In one reported episode, Fetterman told people he was sick to avoid meeting paralyzed military veterans from Pennsylvania. He appeared on Fox News instead. The messages also describe his reluctance to meet representatives of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and to attend the funerals of three police officers killed near his hometown.

When a staffer explained that the hospital representatives were concerned about vaccines and Medicaid cuts, Fetterman replied, “Well I’m not,” and later said, “I’m convinced they just want free trips to DC.” The staffer who confirmed the Journal’s report described conversations with Fetterman about policy or strategy as difficult to sustain.

Well I'm not.

· John FettermanReplying to a staffer who said Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia representatives were concerned about vaccines and Medicaid cuts.

The funeral exchange focused on the length of the ceremony and the travel involved. A staffer told Fetterman it would begin at noon and last at least three hours. Fetterman responded, “3 hours??” After being told that it was a formal ceremony equivalent to three separate funerals, he called attendance “a nonstarter” and cited “9+ hours driving.”

I'm convinced they just want free trips to DC.

· John FettermanDismissing the hospital representatives’ requests for a meeting.

Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Chris Deluzio and Brendan Boyle condemned the reported conduct. Deluzio called it evidence that Fetterman had “no sense of duty,” while Boyle described him as a “disgrace” and “lazy trust fund baby.” Fetterman’s team did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment. Fetterman, a former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, won election to the Senate in 2022 after aligning himself with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

This may be a nonstarter.

· John FettermanResponding to details about the length of a funeral ceremony and the drive required to attend.
About this summary

Originally published by CBS News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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