John Fetterman's Office Accused of Doctoring Transcripts to Make Senator Appear Coherent Post-Stroke
May 19 2023, Published 4:06 p.m. ET
Senator John Fetterman's office was accused of doctoring official transcripts to make the Democrat appear more coherent, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Fetterman suffered a near-fatal stroke in May 2022 during his senate campaign. While Fetterman won his election against Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, critics questioned his ability to fulfill his duties of office given his recent health battles.
Back in mid-February, Fetterman made headlines when he checked himself in for treatment for clinical depression.
While Fetterman was transparent to constituents and colleagues about his mental health, Republican lawmakers slammed the Democrat and accused him of being unfit for office.
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
John Fetterman suffered a stroke prior to his Democratic nomination.
Following a recent recorded senate session on the collapse of Silicone Valley Bank, Fetterman stumbled to piece together sentences as he questioned a witness on CEO work requirements.
"The Republicans want to give a work requirement for SNAP. You know, for a uh, uh, uh, a hungry family has to have these, this kind of penalties, or these some kinds of word — working uh, require — Shouldn't you have a working requirement, after we sail your bank, billions of your bank?" Fetterman was heard saying on camera.
"Because you seem we were preoccupied, uh when, then SNAP requirements for works, for hungry people, but not about protecting the tax, the tax papers, you know, that will bail them out of whatever does about a bank to crash it," Fetterman continued.
Despite the recording capturing Fetterman wrestling over words, a transcript of the exchange released by his office largely omitted his shortcomings.
Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein tweeted a video of Fetterman from the session.
"Shouldn't you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank? Republicans seem to be more occupied with SNAP requirements for hungry people than protecting taxpayers that have to bail out these banks," Stein captioned his tweet.
After Stein was called out for his caption inaccurately portraying Fetterman's line of questioning, the reporter attempted to walk back his since-deleted tweet.
"That was my fault," Stein wrote in a follow-up post. "Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate."