U.S. Sen. John Fetterman privately rejected the concerns of leaders at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who requested a meeting to talk about vaccine policy and Medicaid cuts, speculating to an aide that they “just want free trips to DC,” according to a new report that sparked another wave of criticism aimed at the first-term senator.
The report from The Wall Street Journal details several meetings or events that while routine for many senators in Washington Fetterman frequently tried to get out of, including the meeting with CHOP and a funeral for three York County police officers who were killed while on duty.
Claims that Fetterman is not fully performing the role of a U.S. senator have plagued much of his nearly four years in office. His former staffers have publicly and privately said he often cancels meetings at the last minute, including with constituent groups and Pennsylvania officials who would normally be considered allies.
As he increasingly attacks his own party, the Pennsylvania Democrat has instead appeared regularly on conservative media. He’s prioritized meetings and events about Israel, whose war in Gaza had been a flashpoint in his break with former Democratic allies and supporters, and he does not make regular public appearances across the state he represents.
Among the new revelations in The Wall Street Journal story is an interaction the senator had with Yechiel Leiter, the Israel ambassador to the U.S. last year.
After Fetterman said he wanted to craft a Senate resolution that would require his colleagues to vote on whether the war in Gaza was a genocide, Leiter suggested Fetterman instead write an op-ed about why he supported Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported. Leiter’s embassy later “sent over drafted points for Fetterman to consider,” but Fetterman’s staff withheld them from him out of concerns that writing the op-ed based on the talking points “risked violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” according to the report.
Trump administration official comes to Fetterman’s defense as critics react
Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to The Inquirer about the claims in the report or about the reactions to it.
“John Fetterman is a disgrace,” U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Phila.) wrote on social media in response to the story. “Our state deserves better than a lazy trust fund baby who is too lazy to do the job.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio (D., Allegheny) called Fetterman’s behavior “pathetic.”
“[B]etween the laziness, disrespect, and willingness to carry water for a foreign government, it shows us something we already know: this man has no sense of duty,” Deluzio wrote on social media. “He is not up for the high office he was elected to — and we in Pennsylvania will do something about it in 2028.”
Former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Fetterman’s opponents in the 2022 Democratic primary, also condemned him.
“This report is horrifying, but not new to many of us in PA. John barely showed up as [lieutenant governor] and is constantly MIA as our Senator,” Kenyatta, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, wrote on social media.
Boyle, Deluzio, Lamb and Kenyatta are among the Pennsylvania Democrats who are considered potential candidates when Fetterman’s seat is on the ballot again in 2028. Fetterman has not said whether he will seek a second term, and he’s rejected speculation that he will switch parties to become a Republican.
A robust Democratic primary is likely either way. Just one out of every five likely Democratic voters have a favorable view of him, an Inquirer/New York Times/Siena University poll found last month. At the same time, his favorability among Republicans had grown to a higher level than Pennsylvania’s Republican senator, Dave McCormick.
The Working Families Party, a left-leaning organization that backed Fetterman in the general election in 2022, has said since late last year that it will recruit a Democratic challenger to replace him. And State Rep. Chris Rabb’s sweeping win in Philadelphia’s race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans last spring has given some members of the party hope about the chances for a progressive, anti-establishment candidate for the position.
Fetterman, meanwhile, has also isolated himself from other Democrats in Washington, according to The Wall Street Journal and other reports this year. The party is looking to capture the Senate majority in the midterm elections this fall — a tall task considering the map of competitive races, but one that could make Fetterman a key swing vote depending on how narrow the majority is for either party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has called Fetterman “an important member of our caucus,” had dinner with Fetterman last month, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But Fetterman’s detractors in the party — and his former staffers — have indicated they will continue to put pressure on the senator.
On Friday as the latest story was circulating, an X account claiming to be a group of the senator’s former staffers launched with the message that it would share their experiences.
“It’s even worse than you thought,” the first post stated, calling the latest news “the tip of the iceberg.”
One former staffer with insight into the project, and who spoke with The Inquirer on the condition of anonymity, said it was a legitimate group of former staffers who plan to share real accounts of working for the senator.
The account quickly gained tens of thousands of followers on Friday afternoon, even drawing the attention of a Trump administration official.
“I’m disgusted by anonymous leakers, actually,” Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, wrote in a response on X.
Tré Easton, a former legislative director for Fetterman who has frequently criticized him since leaving his staff in early 2025, said it was “sort of extraordinary” to see other former staffers create such an account. He said he is not involved in the effort.
Easton said the claims in the story aligned with his experience working for Fetterman.
“A lot of ink has been spilled about John and his time in office,” Easton said. “What this Journal story captured that these other stories really haven’t is how completely disconnected he is from the work and how he just doesn’t care about it — how he doesn’t care about his constituents and doesn’t care about Pennsylvania in a worthwhile way.”
‘Why do I have to keep having to meet with chop’
The newspaper’s report includes text messages between Fetterman and his staff as they discuss meetings and events that senators would normally attend.
“3 hours??” Fetterman wrote in response to an aide who told him about the length of a funeral last year for three police officers who were killed while serving a warrant in York County, where Fetterman grew up.
Fetterman wrote that the time “may be a nonstarter” and did not attend, the Journal reported.
Discussing the meeting with CHOP officials last September, Fetterman wrote, “Why do I have to keep having to meet with chop,” and an aide responded it was to talk about vaccines and Medicaid cuts, according to the report.
Along with children’s hospitals and health systems nationally, CHOP faces financial pressure from Medicaid cuts starting next year. While the internationally prominent research institution remains financially strong, around half its patients rely on Medicaid for coverage.
During the debate over President Donald Trump’s signature budget legislation, CHOP circulated form letters to federal lawmakers that warned about the potential for the cuts to harm families, asking staff and patient families to sign them in opposition.
Vaccines have also become increasingly political as Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has sought to upend longstanding federal recommendations about the timing and number of immunizations that children receive.
Fetterman has not weighed in publicly about vaccine changes. But he has loudly rejected the Medicaid changes — saying in a statement last year that he was voting “HELL NO” on the Republican bill, which he called “a disaster.”
About two months later, he wrote to an aide while discussing the CHOP meeting that he was not concerned about, the Journal reported.
“I’m convinced they just want free trips to DC,” he wrote.
Asked for comment on Friday, CHOP, in a statement to The Inquirer, did not comment on that text or its relationship with Fetterman in general.
“We value the productive conversations we have with legislators and government officials at a local, state and federal level,” the statement read. “Their decisions have a direct impact on children’s ability to thrive in Pennsylvania and beyond, and we take our role as a voice for children very seriously.”
Staff writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this article.
