John Fetterman rolled out of Walter Reed Medical Center following a two-month stint for clinical depression and right into chairing a subcommittee hearing this week, which went…well, about as coherently as you’d expect.
The Pennsylvania senator, who suffered a debilitating stroke last May and who has already been admitted to the hospital twice since taking office in January, struggled to get through the opening lines of his remarks to open the hearing Wednesday, showing not much has changed in his status during his months-long hiatus.
Here was that moment - and for what I believe are obvious reasons, I won't try to transcribe it.
John Fetterman chaired a subcommittee hearing today.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 19, 2023
Here is his opening statement. pic.twitter.com/Y6EHYkhkBZ
While critics continue to blast Democrats for allowing a clearly cognitively impaired man to be paraded out into the three-ring circus that is U.S. politics, Fetterman’s wife, Gisele, has insisted she’s not to blame for her husband’s running for office or the obvious challenges he’s had ever since winning it, blaming any criticism of her role in the spectacle on “sexism.”
Related: Gisele Fetterman Claims She's Not a Garbage Wife, As Hubby Remains Hospitalized For Depression
Meanwhile, staffers have said Fetterman doesn’t seem to understand much of what’s being told to him on any given day, and have already instructed reporters not to shout questions at him on Capitol Hill due to his auditory processing problems from his stroke.
In fact, CSPAN video from just after Wednesday’s hearing shows a staffer holding up a tablet Fetterman uses to transcribe verbal conversations so he can read them rather than rely on his hearing and understanding.
John Fetterman has a staffer holding up his iPad as he talks to people after the hearing ended.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 19, 2023
CSPAN cut away from that pretty quickly. pic.twitter.com/ujhOxIZuDk