Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) offered a bizarre response when asked about the formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Tuesday morning.
A reporter caught up with Fetterman, sporting a short-sleeve button-down shirt and athletic shorts, in a hallway of the Capitol soon after McCarthy announced the formal inquiry.
.@SenFettermanPA reacts to Speaker McCarthy moving forward with a House impeachment inquiry into POTUS…
— Liz Brown-Kaiser (@lizbrownkaiser) September 12, 2023
(Just watch) pic.twitter.com/jg3aeyDW7F
“Oh my god, really?” Fetterman said sarcastically of the news as he jumped back and put his hands on his head to convey an insincere disbelief.
“Oh my gosh, you know. It’s devastating,” he laughed before wiggling his arms and fingers while saying, “Ooh, don’t do it. Oh no, oh no.”
An aide for Fetterman, who appears to be the subject of an O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) video named Luke Borwegan, seemed uncomfortable during the interaction and hustled the senator away, telling reporters, “We need to run back to the office.”
Notably, in the OMG video where he speaks unknowingly to an undercover reporter, Borwegan stated he serves as an “in-between between [Fetterman] and the rest of the staff,” adding he carries an iPad that “live transcribes everything everyone is saying” for Fetterman.
The senator suffered a stroke ahead of the Democrat primary as a candidate last year, leading to him experiencing auditory processing disorder symptoms, as his physician pointed out. Technology to assist Fetterman has also been affixed both at his desk in the Senate chamber and at the dais.
Borwegan states to an undercover reporter in the OMG video that the journalists or “puppets” that Fetterman’s team chooses to do exclusive interviews with “will just say exactly what the fuck you want them to.”
“I only pick reporters who we know will paint the narrative the way we want.” Such a strategy cannot be employed during organic hallway interactions with reporters.
Other Democrats joined Fetterman in criticizing the impeachment inquiry. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) contended the formal inquiry is “a kangaroo court, fishing expedition and conspiracy theater rolled into one,” the Hill noted. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it “absurd” at a press conference on Tuesday.
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Speaker Kevin McCarthy / Facebook