Rebecca Kirszner Katz, an adviser to Sen.-elect John Fetterman, posted on Twitter that the reporter’s method of “yelling questions” would be ineffective with the Democratic Pennsylvania politician. This was in response to a comment made by HuffPost senior politics reporter Igor Bobic who took to Twitter to say that Fetterman had not responded to a question he was asked as they passed each other.
Katz later responded to Bobic’s tweet saying that just “yelling questions” would not work on Fetterman who is still recovering from a stroke. The stroke which he suffered in May has led to him having some lingering auditory processing issues that he is slowly recovering from.
Katz was criticized for her response to the question.
A Townhall.com columnist Derek Hunter tweeted as a joke that all questions would need to be written down and approved by Fetterman’s wife. He also added that @giselefetterman would more likely end up on the Senate payroll.
Washington Examiner writer Nathan Wurtzel also added that if he is Senator then he will need to be treated as one.
The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller also commented asking whether that meant that Fetterman is unable to understand what he is being told.
However, MSNBC columnist Eric Michael Garcia came to Katz’s defense and said that this does not mean that they cannot ask tough questions, but rather that they would need to be a little bit more accommodating in the way they had been to “Tammy Duckworth in her wheelchair” when asking questions in the hall.
Fetterman’s health and ability to serve in the Senate have been questioned ever since he suffered from a stroke. Most stroke experts have maintained that the “lingering issues” that Fetterman suffers usually go away with time.
