Nearly 12 hours after a report revealed how Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has retreated from public appearances, a new X account popped up claiming to be composed of the senator’s former staffers — and they warn more is to come regarding the senator’s conduct.
A Wall Street Journal exclusive published late Thursday detailed how Fetterman has withdrawn from many public appearances, at times questioning a group’s motives. One meeting in particular involved the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, CHOP, which was worried about the Medicaid cuts and wanted the senator to hear their concerns.
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A staffer shared text messages with the WSJ where Fetterman told the staffer he wasn’t worried about vaccines or Medicaid cuts and was “convinced they just want free trips to DC.” Other incidents involved Fetterman skipping out on committee meetings in May and canceling meetings last minute for either no reason or to meet with people about Israel.
Fetterman’s office didn’t respond to Straight Arrow’s request for a comment. He didn’t respond to the WSJ story, nor has his office.
The story took on a life of its own online, splitting people on whether Fetterman’s conduct had become an issue.
“Weak article,” wrote Daniel Harz, founder of natural gas and mineral royalty company WhiteHawk Energy, on X. “Hard to understand why ex-staffers being unhappy is news, other than the Senator defends Israel.”
A band of former staffers are fighting that notion and said the report only highlights the “tip of the iceberg.” They said in an X post that they’re going to release stories and screenshots when the Senate returns on Sept. 14.
Dodging funerals, committee assignments
The Wall Street Journal report alleged that when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was ruminating over what committees senators should get, Fetterman sought the most prestigious — Senate Foreign Relations.
He wasn’t given the seat, according to the WSJ, and was instead given his first choice of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. Upset, Fetterman refused to participate in caucus lunches and meetings in early 2025 and told his staffers that he “truly didn’t care” about a Senate Democrats call.
Former staffers told the WSJ that the senator didn’t like several obligations senators had, including meeting with constituents, attending hearings and making public in-state appearances.
One skipped appearance included a joint funeral for three York, Pa., officers who were killed in an ambush attack while serving an arrest warrant. Fetterman didn’t attend the services.
Fetterman allegedly questioned the three-hour service in a text message to an aide, then said that it may be a “nonstarter” for him.
No information is available on what details his staffers could release when the Senate reconvenes.
Ex-staffers unleash on lawmakers
Fetterman’s former staff aren’t alone, nor are they the first to come out publicly against their former employer.
Former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who caucused with Democrats, came under fire in 2021 and 2022 for allegedly having staffers handle her grocery shopping and not culling what some described as a demoralizing office environment.
The revelations came while Sinema split further from Democrats in votes on former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure improvement plan and on opposition to changing the Senate filibuster rules.
Sinema was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2012, 2014 and 2016. She entered the Senate as a progressive Democrat in 2018 and switched to independent in 2023, according to congressional records.
Outgoing Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, faced public backlash online after a former staffer accused the representative of focusing more on an election than on policies or legislation in 2023. Adam Abusalah, the former staffer, made his qualms with Thanedar public in a series of posts on X in October 2023 that detailed the politician’s motives.
Abusalah pushed back on Thanedar’s directives, often facing threats of termination from the lawmaker and revealing that his office had been a revolving door, with six people quitting in two weeks. Abusalah added that his own exit left Thanedar with five staffers, in comparison to Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, who had 16 staffers. Dingell represented Thanedar’s district before being redrawn to Michigan’s Sixth Congressional District.
“Shri would always ask me to follow what Rashida [Tlaib] and AOC were doing so ‘he can be popular like them and gain followers,’” Abusalah wrote. “He called me once past midnight to ask me why AOC had over 10 million followers and he only had 3k.”
The internal disagreement staffers have with their former bosses isn’t limited to Democrats. Disgraced former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., faced blowback from his former communications director after his indictment over mishandling campaign funds and widespread fraud. She resigned along with one other staffer before Santos was ultimately expelled from Congress.
Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and was sentenced 87 months in federal prison. Trump commuted the former representative’s sentence in October 2025.
“I was thoroughly disgusted,” Santos’ former communications director Naysa Woomer told the BBC in 2023. “I just said ‘Enough is enough.’”