J. Scott Applewhite/AP photo
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) skipped a scheduled meeting with paralyzed veterans from his home state, opting instead to appear on Fox News, The Wall Street Journal said in a report detailing Fetterman’s aversion to work in the Senate.
The report, published on Thursday night, begins:
One morning in June, three paralyzed military veterans in wheelchairs from rural Pennsylvania arrived at the office of Sen. John Fetterman for a long-awaited meeting to discuss legislation that would improve their care.
Fetterman’s staff greeted them with bad news: The Pennsylvania Democrat had to cancel. He’d told his staff he may have eaten something bad and wasn’t feeling well, according to people familiar with the matter.
Less than an hour after his staffers met with the veterans in his place, Fetterman walked into his office, showing no signs of illness. He had an appointment he didn’t want to miss, he told staff: an interview on Fox News to discuss Israel and the war in Iran.
Citing dozens of former staffers and lawmakers, the Journal said Fetterman “shows little interest in doing the job beyond cultivating relationships with conservative media figures and advocating for Israel.”
In September 2025, Fetterman grumbled to his staff about officials at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who wanted to meet with the senator and explain their concerns about Medicaid cuts. The Journal reviewed texts documenting Fetterman’s attitude toward them, stating that “they just want free trips to DC.”
Also last September, Fetterman balked at attending a funeral for three police officers killed in his hometown of York when he was informed it would be three hours long, which he called “a nonstarter.”
Fetterman did not respond to multiple requests for an interview for the Journal story.
The outlet further reported that in April 2025, Fetterman refused to meet with a group of constituents in Washington:
In April 2025, veteran Pennsylvania state lawmaker Anthony Hardy Williams brought a busload of constituents to Washington from Eastwick, a poorer, flood-prone neighborhood in Philadelphia, to meet with their representatives in Congress and discuss Trump administration cuts to a grant program that had helped the area.
Fetterman was the only one who refused to meet with them, Williams said in an interview. At one point, they saw Fetterman walking the halls and yelled, but he didn’t acknowledge them, according to Williams.
“He was available. He just chose not to meet with us,” Williams said.
That same month, Fetterman bailed on a meeting with another Pennsylvania politician who went to Washington to discuss programs for the homeless:
Also last April, Fetterman agreed to take a meeting with another state lawmaker, Liz Hanbidge, who drove down from Pennsylvania to introduce herself, and to discuss programs that help the homeless and working poor in her county. But when Hanbidge arrived, according to staffers who were present, Fetterman claimed he hadn’t agreed to the meeting. The aides spent more than an hour pleading with him to talk to her; staffers eventually met with Hanbidge in his place.
Fetterman did take another meeting that day—with Bruce Pearl, the former college basketball coach and Israel advocate. The pair discussed legislation that would affect college sports, and Pearl thanked Fetterman for his stance on Israel, Pearl said in an interview.
Fetterman has made a slew of appearances on Fox News, where he routinely bashes fellow Democrats and forcefully speaks out in favor of Israel and the Iran war. In an interview last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Fetterman’s Fox fetish a “sad state of affairs.”
Some Democrats have worried that Fetterman might switch parties, which could have major implications for the makeup of the Senate, but so far he has insisted he will not become a Republican.
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