Sen.-elect John Fetterman, D-Pa., will not be able to answer questions in the usual way as he continues to recover from a stroke, one of his advisers wrote on Twitter.
Rebecca Katz, a longtime adviser for Fetterman, wrote "Two things we need to get out of the way: 1) John Fetterman has a suit and will wear it to the Capitol. 2) 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."
Katz was responding to a tweet by Huffington Post reporter Igor Bobic, who had tweeted a photo of Fetterman in a suit surrounded by staffers in the Senate basement and said that he "didn't answer when I asked if he'll be able to wear his hoodie on Senate floor."
During the campaign for the Senate seat from Pennsylvania, Fetterman's stroke was a major issue, with his Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz contending that Fetterman should not be elected because of his slow responses and his need for closed captioning at interviews and debates due to his health condition, according to the Washington Examiner.
Fetterman admitted during the campaign that his health condition would create changes in the way he carried out his duties but insisted that he would continue to fight for Pennsylvanians and get "better and better" daily.
Fetterman's victory, which flipped the Keystone State blue, was key to the success of the Democrats in keeping the party's majority in the Senate.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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