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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said he feels pressured to show up to votes and hearings that he finds useless, adding his mental health struggles have been “weaponized.”
“My doctor warned years ago: After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Fetterman told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”
Fetterman has previously been vocal about his struggles with depression after he survived a stroke on the 2022 campaign trail that he said nearly killed him.
Fetterman has missed 18.1% of floor votes since taking office.
The new report details Fetterman’s extreme reluctance with performing his senatorial work duties, including showing up for procedural votes that he calls “performative.”
Fetterman told The Times he would rather spend time with his family than show up for work.
“The votes I missed were overwhelmingly procedural; they’re even called ‘bed check’ votes,” he told the publication. “I had to make a decision: getting here and sticking my thumb in the door for three seconds for a procedural vote or spend Monday night as a dad-daughter date.”
AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File
Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
The first-time senator has faced renewed scrutiny following a New York Magazine report in which his former chief of staff spoke out against him. Adam Jentleson, who served as Fetterman’s chief of staff from 2022 to 2024, revealed he wrote a letter last May to Fetterman’s doctor detailing “warning signs” of the senator’s declining mental health.
“I think John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him,” Jentleson said in the letter.
Fetterman lamented having to show up to hearings and expressed frustration that he’s picked last to ask questions because of seniority rules, according to The Times.
He has also faced criticism for his full-throated support of Israel and its military bombardment of Gaza. More than 50,000 people have been killed by Israel, with nearly a third of the dead under 18.
Known for wearing shorts and a Carhartt hoodie around the Capitol, Fetterman donned a suit and tie on the House floor last year when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech to Congress.
And earlier this year, Netanyahu gifted Fetterman a silver pager ― a symbol for Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Syria in 2024 that used exploding pagers targeting Hezbollah. The attack killed 13 people, including children.
Along with avoiding votes and hearings, Fetterman has steered clear of town halls over fears of protests against him. The Democratic senator has come under fire for visiting President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in January, calling Trump “kind” and “cordial.” Fetterman said in February that there “isn’t a constitutional crisis,” just before Trump gutted critical federal agencies.
“I just want to be in a room full of love,” Fetterman has reportedly told people about not attending town halls, according to The Times.
At a meeting earlier this month with representatives from a teachers union in his home state of Pennsylvania, Fetterman began repeating himself and asking why “everybody is mad at me,” the Associated Press reported.
At one point, Fetterman slammed his hands on a desk.
“Why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do?” he reportedly shouted.
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