NBC News - An isolated John Fetterman clashes with colleagues and staff as he skips his Senate duties

Fetterman, who is facing scrutiny after former staffers have raised concerns about his mental health, has missed nearly every committee hearing and regularly skips votes.

May 9, 2025, 3:17 PM EDT
By Allan Smith, Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V

In the run-up to the vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., knew her party had a problem — and its name was John Fetterman.

Fetterman, the Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, was open to confirming President Donald Trump’s embattled pick, according to two people familiar with his thinking. Murray wanted to speak with her colleague one-on-one. So she reached out to set up a time.

But Fetterman refused, as the two people familiar with the episode told NBC News.

“He figured that she wanted to yell at him about it,” one person familiar with the senator’s thinking said.

That Fetterman wouldn’t even talk to one of the most senior members of his party — someone who is well-respected in the caucus and, like Fetterman, has a reputation for being a straight shooter — was emblematic of the way Fetterman has operated in the Senate.

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