A tense meeting last week between Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman and a delegation from a teachers' union ended with one of his staffers in tears according to The Associated Press news agency, escalating growing concerns over the Democratic lawmaker's mental health and behavior just three years after suffering a life-threatening stroke.

Newsweek has reached out to John Fetterman's office for comment via email on Thursday outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

This episode comes amid broader scrutiny of the Pennsylvania Democrat's mental and emotional health, including recent public allegations from his former chief of staff Adam Jentleson, who described the senator's conduct in a 2024 letter to a Walter Reed neuropsychiatrist as "on a bad trajectory."
[...]
Last week's meeting took place in Fetterman's Washington, D.C., office during what was supposed to be a routine discussion with education representatives according to the AP. Instead, the news agency reported Fetterman's demeanor quickly unraveled, citing individuals briefed on the meeting.

The senator reportedly began shouting, repeating himself, and slammed his hands on a desk while asking: "Why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do?"

One staff member ultimately cut the meeting short and escorted the union visitors out, then broke down crying in the hallway. The union representatives reportedly comforted the staffer.

When asked about the meeting, Fetterman issued a statement through his office to the AP, describing it as "a spirited conversation about our collective frustration with the Trump administration's cuts to our education system."

He added: "I will always support our teachers, and I will always reject anyone's attempt to turn Pennsylvania's public schools into a voucher program."

The events described by the AP came just one day before New York Magazine's Intelligencer published a detailed account of staff concerns about Fetterman's mental health. In the story, Jentleson warned in a letter that the senator had stopped attending medical appointments, pushed away those responsible for helping manage his health, and might have discontinued prescribed medications. He also alleged reckless behavior, including texting and video-calling while driving at high speeds.

"He has picked fights with each person involved in that system and used those fights as excuses to push them out and cut them off from any knowledge about his health situation," Jentleson wrote, according to the letter.

New York Magazine also reported that Fetterman's wife, Gisele, had refused to speak with him until he underwent required blood work, which he eventually did, but only after missing earlier appointments. Other aides described episodes of seclusion, mood swings, and erratic social media behavior, despite staff efforts to manage his online presence.

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.'

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.'

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.'

Quite the opposite, as The Intercept recently reported that Fetterman's campaign is bleeding money and losing small-dollar donors ever since his meeting with Trump.

The author, Ben Terris, spoke to Fetterman ahead of publication and got a text message from him asking: 'Why is this a story?

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 towards the beginning of his first term, he had to be spoken with 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 and meeting with Donald Trump with his wife Gisele, herself having come to the U.S. as an illegal migrant.

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.

'I would talk to John's doctors about what Adam was telling me and they would be confused. Those doctors would tell me that their concerns were not with John, but with Adam,' she said.

Things got more tense when Terris asked whether Fetterman wanted to comment on what was supposedly coming out of his camp.

The politician - who beat out Republican Mehmet Oz back in 2022 - responded with a resounding 'no.' He went on to eye two of his staffers, Terris said - recalling how Fetterman then adjourned for an abrupt break.

First, though, he offered the reporter some stern words.

He claimed that no one in his staff would know about his personal health situation and that anyone claiming otherwise was merely misinformed.

'There's not really anything to respond when that's just not accurate,' he said, shortly after fielding a question about Trump's mental faculties.

Terris, however, pressed on - saying that these former staffers told him 'they've witnessed ups and downs that could be associated with kind of a relapse.

'They also worry that the medication that you're on is not just for depression, but more serious drugs that if you're not on them would be a problem,' Terris added.

'Is there truth to that?'

At this point, Fetterman - who suffered a stroke whilst running against Oz - declared he had nothing to comment, before bringing the conversation off the record for the next few minutes.

Jentleson adds that the shocking stroke Fetterman suffered doesn't mean the senator has to be this way permanently.

'He's not locked into a downward trajectory; he could get back in treatment at any time, and for a long time I held out hope that he would. But it's just been too long now, and things keep getting worse.'

Terris was reportedly left out in a hallway with a few of Fetterman's aides after initially questioning him but was eventually let back in.

Fetterman sat in the same chair but was now 'slumped into himself,' he noticed - comparing the senator who checked himself into Walter Reed in 2023 to receive treatment for depression to 'a deflated parade float.'

'He avoided looking at me,' Terris further claimed, before breaking the silence.

'Anything to say about that?' he asked, referring to his earlier inquiry.

'There's not anyone that you're referencing who would be privy to my medical history,' Fetterman insisted again, before being asked whether he cared to comment on whether the unnamed staffers were right or wrong.

Fetterman - whose politics were once more aligned with those of Bernie Sanders before an apparent shift right in recent months - framed the insight as rumors from 'disgruntled' former staffers.

When asked why these employees may have been disgruntled, Fetterman shot back, 'For whatever reason.'

'There's a lot of people who just hide behind unnamed sources in articles,' he added.

The exchange ended there, with the interview ending minutes later.

'I feel like there's been kind of a tone shift here,' Terris told Fetterman as the interview waned, attempting to catch the senator's eye.

'Can you tell me what you're feeling? What you're thinking?'

The question spurred the senator to finally look at him, Terris recalled - before remembering Fetterman's response.

'No, everything's great,' he said, reportedly with little emotion. 'Everything's great. I don't know what you're referencing.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Fetterman for comment.

• India claims Pakistan has "created entire industry of terror", frustrated by India's move on Kashmir and Jammu provinces
• Indian Chief Minister says Pakistan 'should be ready to lose occupied Kashmir'
• 'Artificial wall broken down': Kashmir's autonomy in India officially ceases to exist
• Pakistan-India showdown: What you're not being told
• India and Pakistan relations have deteriorated sharply - accusations of proxy war over Kashmir region
• The global conflict zones just waiting to reignite: Kashmir, South China Sea, Colombia, Congo