{"id":1533929,"date":"2025-05-03T18:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T22:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1533929"},"modified":"2025-05-03T18:35:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T22:35:00","slug":"fetterman-ex-chief-of-staff-sounded-mental-health-alarm-to-senators-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/fetterman-ex-chief-of-staff-sounded-mental-health-alarm-to-senators-doctor\/1533929\/","title":{"rendered":"Fetterman Ex-Chief Of Staff Sounded Mental Health Alarm To Senator&#8217;s Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Fetterman Ex-Chief Of Staff Sounded Mental Health Alarm To Senator&#8217;s Doctor<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p><strong>Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman&#8217;s former chief of staff was so alarmed by his mental health last year that he sounded an alarm with\u00a0the Walter Reed doctor <\/strong>who treated him during his lengthy in-patient stay for severe depression in 2023. Former aides who are in contact with Fetterman&#8217;s shrinking inner circle say his behavior continues to cause periodic concern about his danger to himself and those around him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m worried that if John stays <strong>on his current trajectory<\/strong> <strong>he won\u2019t be with us for much longer,\u201d<\/strong> wrote Adam Jentleson in his 2024 email to Dr. David Williamson, neuropsychiatry chief at Walter Reed. Jentleson sent the email in May, weeks after he\u00a0resigned from Fetterman&#8217;s staff. In quitting, he became the fifth top aide to jump ship since Fetterman beat Trump-endorsed TV doctor Mehmet Oz in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/fettermanmain.jpg?itok=vacDLNEc\"><strong>Fetterman with his wife Gisele, whom he nearly killed by falling asleep at the wheel last year<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jentleson&#8217;s\u00a01,600-word email, first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/john-fetterman-struggle-mental-health-clinical-depression.html\"><em>New York Magazine<\/em><\/a>, referenced many warning signs that Fetterman&#8217;s family and other close confidants had been told to watch out for:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u201cWe often see the kind of warning signs we discussed. Conspiratorial thinking; megalomania (<\/strong>for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news \u2014 he declines most briefings and never reads memos); high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self centered monologues; <strong>lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious <\/strong>to everyone in the room.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;We do not know if he is taking his meds, and his behavior frequently suggests he is not,<\/strong>&#8221; wrote Jentleson, and a staffer told <em>New York<\/em>\u00a0there have been days when aides would make sure nobody from outside the office came into contact with him &#8212; days when he was in &#8220;some sort of state&#8221; where he could potentially <strong>say some &#8220;really fucked-up shit to constituents.&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>In February, Fetterman was recorded being uncooperative with a pilot\u00a0directing the overweight senator to either adhere to FAA rules requiring that one&#8217;s fastened seatbelt is visible, or get off the plane:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Video from February\u2014when John Fetterman got in an argument with a pilot about wearing his seatbelt so it was visible.<br \/>\n\u201cSir if you want to go to Pittsburgh, it&#8217;s simple: you have to follow our instructions or you&#8217;re gonna be asked to get off the airplane.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWe&#8217;re not asking much.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FQwMEcXBsD\">pic.twitter.com\/FQwMEcXBsD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/prem_thakker\/status\/1918329290376266172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sources describe tension between Fetterman and his wife. &#8220;In March, <strong>Fetterman suddenly took an early-morning trip to Hartford, Connecticut, without telling his team why<\/strong> \u2014 leaving them at a loss for what to tell Gisele when she demanded to know why he was missing one of their kids\u2019 birthdays,&#8221; according to <em>New York<\/em>. Fetterman disputed the account, explaining he was visiting a grad-school friend&#8217;s grave and claiming that his family and aides knew about it.<\/p>\n<p>In his email last year, Jentleson also said Fetterman was <strong>avoiding his doctors:<\/strong> &#8220;He long ago ordered us to stop putting regular drop-bys with Dr. Monahan on his schedule, despite the fact that he had agreed to those as part of the plan.&#8221; In group-texts from March 2024, staffers noted that the <strong>blood tests that were to be included in those appointments were &#8220;pillars of the recovery plan.&#8221;<\/strong> Fetterman consultant Eric Stern wrote, &#8220;Is there any universe in which [his wife] Gisele could convince him to get his levels checked? I\u2019m honestly just worried for him and don\u2019t know who else could get through to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/store.zerohedge.com\/rancher-direct-clean-food\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jentleson worried about Fetterman growing increasingly isolated, telling Williamson that\u00a0\u201cJohn has pushed out everyone who was supposed to help keep him on his recovery plan.&#8221; He said <strong>the senator was spending\u00a0hours gazing at this phone<\/strong> and composing tweets. Fetterman was said to have previously acknowledged that a preoccupation with social media was a principal &#8220;accelerant&#8221; of his depression.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>He engages in risky behavior,&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>wrote Jentleson. &#8220;He drives recklessly: he FaceTimes, texts and reads entire news articles while driving \u2014 and I don\u2019t mean while stopped at a light or something, <strong>he reads and FaceTimes while driving at high speeds.&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong>The warning about Fetterman&#8217;s driving would soon prove prophetic &#8212; almost fatally so. The next month, driving with his wife Gisele, <strong>Fetterman rammed his 2021 Chevy Traverse into the back of a car<\/strong> driven by a 61-year-old woman.<\/p>\n<p>John Fetterman was found to be at fault for causing a major car crash in Western Maryland that totaled his SUV as well as the car of the woman he rear-ended. This guy&#8217;s a total mess <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Vd7DhuY8m5\">pic.twitter.com\/Vd7DhuY8m5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Tracey (@mtracey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mtracey\/status\/1801727446393258399?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 14, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cIt\u2019s a miracle no one died,\u201d<\/strong> a police officer said.\u00a0Both vehicles were totaled and all three people were hospitalized, with Gisele suffering a bruised lung and spinal fractures. Police Fetterman was going &#8220;well over&#8221; the 70 mph limit on I-70.\u00a0<strong>Fetterman admitted to falling asleep at the wheel<\/strong>. His staff had worried about that very possibility, as Fetterman&#8217;s accident happened after he\u00a0took a red-eye flight from California where he appeared on Bill Maher&#8217;s show. He ignored his aides&#8217; pleas to ask someone to pick him up at the airport and drive him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman called the <em>New York Magazine<\/em> article a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/02\/us\/politics\/john-fetterman-mental-health.html\">hit piece<\/a>&#8221; by two conspiring friends, Jentleson and writer Ben Terris, who &#8220;sourced anonymous, disgruntled staffers with lies or distorted half-truths,&#8221; adding that \u201cmy ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I\u2019m very well.\u201d His wife Gisele similarly accused Jentleson of lying.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fetterman had a near-fatal stroke\u00a0<\/strong>on May 13, 2022<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>&#8212; four days before the Pennsylvania primary &#8212; and\u00a0was left with communications impairments that were painfully evident\u00a0on those occasions where his campaign dared put him in front of cameras and microphones:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is why Fetterman didn\u2019t want to debate until after early voting was well under way<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s brutal and embarrassing to watch<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cd5DoWwLeL\">pic.twitter.com\/cd5DoWwLeL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gummi (@gummibear737) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gummibear737\/status\/1585078764316524544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 26, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>His depression hospitalization came just days after a lengthy and jarring\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/02\/10\/us\/politics\/john-fetterman-senate-stroke.html\">New York Times<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>profile\u00a0<\/strong>that obliterated previous campaign assurances of Fetterman&#8217;s fitness for Senate duty following his stroke.\u00a0His treatment\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/31\/us\/politics\/john-fetterman-hospital-depression.html\">included<\/a>\u00a0medications, talk therapy and therapeutic walks at Walter Reed&#8217;s rooftop healing garden.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/31\/us\/politics\/john-fetterman-hospital-depression.html\">According<\/a>\u00a0to a discharge brief written by Williamson, Fetterman suffered \u201c<strong>severe symptoms<\/strong>\u00a0of depression with low energy and motivation,\u00a0<strong>minimal speech<\/strong>, poor sleep, slowed thinking,\u00a0<strong>slowed movement, feelings of guilt and worthlessness.<\/strong>&#8221; He didn&#8217;t have suicidal thoughts, according to the doctor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/John-fetterman-shorts%20sweatshirt.jpeg?itok=OQYAhC4h\"><strong>Mental health tip for the senator: To fend off feelings of worthlessness, don&#8217;t dress like you&#8217;re worthless<\/strong> (ABC News)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>After taping a podcast inteview with Fetterman in April, <em>The Bulwark<\/em>&#8216;s Tim Miller said Fetterman is &#8220;struggling.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/john-fetterman-struggle-mental-health-clinical-depression.html\">He\u2019s, like, really struggling. And I just think coming off of the Biden thing, we should not be hiding the ball on this sort of stuff<\/a>.\u201d Of course, cynics have to wonder if <strong>leftist media&#8217;s interest in illuminating the state of Fetterman&#8217;s mental health has anything to do with his lean toward conservative stances,<\/strong> such as his backing of stricter immigration and border control.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After all, the Biden scandal showed that <em>Democrats are all too happy to conceal major mental impairments up until the point they pose a risk to the leftist agenda<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" class=\"username\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Sat, 05\/03\/2025 &#8211; 14:35<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/fetterman-ex-chief-staff-sounded-mental-health-alarm-senators-doctor\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/fetterman-ex-chief-staff-sounded-mental-health-alarm-senators-doctor<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fetterman Ex-Chief Of Staff Sounded Mental Health Alarm To Senator&#8217;s Doctor Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman&#8217;s former chief of staff was so alarmed by his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1533930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1533929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1533929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1533929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1533930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1533929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1533929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1533929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}