By The FirstSenator-elect John Fetterman won’t be taking questions from reporters on the Hill, according to an advisor for the newly-elected Keystone State Senator; “yelling” will not work, the advisor says.
“He is still recovering from a stroke and has lingering auditory processing challenges. The way Hill reporters are used to yelling questions at Senators will not work here,” wrote Rebecca Katz, a political strategist and advisor to Fetterman, on Twitter. Her tweet was in response to another by a Huffington Post reporter, Igor Bobic, who noted that Fetterman did not acknowledge his presence as he was shouting a question at him.
From The Daily Caller:
Katz’s remarks were criticized by reporters. “John Fetterman is not deaf. He does not wear hearing aides…are we to understand he cannot understand words being spoken to him?” wrote Stephen L. Miller, an editor at The Spectator, while the Independent’s Andrew Feinberg suggested “we use cue cards, ‘Love Actually’ style.”
Katz’s comments come amidst lingering questions over Fetterman’s health and fitness to serve in the Senate. Fetterman suffered a stroke on May 13, after he won the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary, and was hospitalized for nearly four months before resuming campaigning in August.
Attacks on Fetterman’s health by Republicans became a primary strategy on the campaign trail. Republican candidate Dr Mehmet Oz held a joint event with retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania on Sept. 30 calling for Fetterman to release his medical records in full, which he had declined to do.
