Arizona Senator Reuben Gallego defended his wife, John Fetterman, a fellow John Fetterman on Saturday, saying that he “needs space” in the Pennsylvania Senators' party.
Fetterman, who won the election to his seat in 2022 despite suffering a stroke on the campaign trail, is under attack by Democrats.
But Fetterman also clashes with his party's progressive wing on Israel and other issues, and his supporters say it's his independent streak that encourages whispers.
“We need space for Fetterman and other senators in our Caucus,” Gallego said in an interview with Pennsylvania on Saturday, Politico reported. “He's still a senator fighting for working class people. We may not agree on many times in many areas, but we don't need to.”
Media leaks about Fetterman are a coordinated smear campaign, says Hill's colleague
Gallego had mentioned Fetterman's attitude towards Israel. His proposal requires Democrats to work with President Donald Trump and vote for presidential candidates when other Democrats don't.
The senator, who was treated for depression for more than a month in the neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2023, has recently been the subject of several media stories claiming he had shown strange behaviors related to Democrats.
Arizona Senator Reuben Gallego said on Saturday that “we need space” for Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. (Getty's collapse)
“This is very blatantly coordinated,” Joe Concha, a media observer and Fox News contributor, wrote on social media this week. He shared a link to a post to a political report claiming that in an internal democratic poll he found Fetterman's popularity shaking in parts of Keystone State.
The report alleges that Fetterman was 50% below 50% in support of Democratic voters in Pittsburgh, a few miles west of Braddock.
Sen. Dave McCormick, a Republican, called the report a “vicious and personal attack.”
“He's real, decent, principled, fighter,” McCormick said. “These dishonest smears against him are not John I know and admire.”
“The radical left is smearing him with rigged and vicious attacks, as he is a pro-Israel and wants only reliable anti-Israel politicians,” writes Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton.
Senator John Fetterman has been the subject of several media stories he claims to have recently demonstrated unstable behavior about the Democrats. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, Getty Images)
Senators say Dems “eats herself” as Fetterman faces new scrutiny
Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican Sen. of Iowa, posted on X. “The media should fire Senator Fetterman.”
Gallego warned on Saturday that the GOP was defending Fetterman in the hopes of getting him even better.
“In the Marines, we call these f—- f— games,” Gallego said.
Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick added “a malicious, personal attack,” Fetterman, who said, “He's real, decent, principled, and fighter. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
When asked by members of the audience during the town hall, why he fundraised with Pro Trump businessmen, Gallego said the man runs “the largest venture capital company in Arizona.”
“We've become so pure that we started kicking people out of our tents, and we're not getting enough people in our tents to win the election,” he added.
But Gallego also had harsh words against the Trump administration.
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“Agh, angry, we're fighting,” he told Democrats about how to deal with Trump's president at City Hall. “How do we fight? We fight them in court as much as we can. We fight in court because we believe in the US Constitution. You believe in it, the country believes in it. …We believe in the US.”
