Staffers say they ‘no longer recognize’ Fetterman as ‘bizarre’ behavior raises alarm

A new exposé about Sen. John Fetterman’s, D-Pa., time on Capitol Hill set social media ablaze on Friday. 

The report raised questions about alleged tensions with his wife, Gisele, over his health regimen, his stance on Israel and her reported run-ins with his staff.

In “All By Himself: John Fetterman insists he is in good health, but staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew,” New York Magazine’s Intelligencer lays out recollections from current and former staff members who worked for the Pennsylvania Democrat. In May 2022, Fetterman suffered a serious stroke mid-Senate campaign against Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The article relates several reported instances, including a February 2023 situation at a Democratic caucus retreat at the Library of Congress.

A staffer told the outlet that he received a message questioning how Fetterman was doing, as he was found sitting at a table alone, silently drinking a soda.

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The report went on to claim the lawmaker was “nearly struck by a car” and found “wandering” Capitol Hill.

Physicians at George Washington University Hospital later determined he was severely dehydrated, and had not had a second stroke as feared.

An ensuing discussion with then-Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, found Fetterman to be nearly “catatonic” when Brown tried to talk with him. Soon after, on Feb. 15, he was admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center.

After being discharged, Fetterman “threw himself into” his Senate work and became more vociferous than ever on issues like the Israel-Gaza conflict and other topics that have rankled his Democratic colleagues.

He also took a leading role in calling for the ouster of now-former Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., amid corruption allegations.

“Former and current staffers paint a picture of an erratic senator who has become almost impossible to work for and whose mental-health situation is more serious and complicated than previously reported,” the article read.

After staffers wrote a letter about Fetterman’s “gutting betrayal” supporting Israel, the report went on to allege Gisele confronted him about Jerusalem “bombing refugee camps — how can you support this?”

Gisele reportedly also went to staffers with her concerns, while a Senate physician in December 2023 reported him “acting bizarrely” near the Senate subway, while he had not had bloodwork in months.

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The hulking lawmaker also reportedly nearly knocked over folks walking in the Capitol.

Both types of incidents reportedly rankled his wife, who was vociferous on the matter, according to the magazine piece.

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman for comment.

Social media became abuzz after the article dropped, with Bloomberg columnist Matthew Yglesias calling it “a very sad story here on a human level, but of course, it’s also politics and can’t be addressed purely on that level.”

Left-wing former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wrote that the story and color from former staffers therein “makes clear that Fetterman should not be serving in the Senate. Every Senate Democrat should read this and be asked about it.”

A California progressive group reacted by writing that the story is an indictment of populist lawmakers.

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“Whether they’re left or right, whether they agree with your preferred policies or not, populism will not get you the best leaders,” Bay Area New Liberals wrote.

Another user said the story showed Gisele as “evil.”

“These are not red flags, this is a siren going off. John Fetterman is not taking his meds… He needs inpatient care,” commented another.

“Funny how they didn’t run these hit pieces or question Fetterman’s mental health during the campaign when he was barely able to speak or when he so spectacularly fumbled the debate against Dr. Oz. But now that he turned out not to be a deranged Trump hater, a psychotic terrorist lover, or an obedient progressive, suddenly they’re starting to question his mental acuity,” a different user wrote.

“Knocking him out early before he can do anything in 2028?” wrote another, who conjectured that both Fetterman and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro could end up battling each other in the next Democratic presidential primary.

DOGE uncovers top 5 most outrageous ways government has thrown your money away

As President Donald Trump celebrated his 100th day in office this week, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. 

When Trump signed an executive order establishing the agency on his Inauguration Day, DOGE set an ambitious goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. 

According to the Office of Government Ethics, “special government employees” like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk’s case will fall on May 30. He has already started paring back his hours leading the controversial agency. 

Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” had the opportunity to see behind the curtain of Musk’s infamous DOGE, which Democrats have railed against and Republicans have celebrated since Trump returned to the White House this year. The “DOGE boys” reminded Watters on Thursday of some of the most shocking savings secured by the department this year. 

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Funding a former Taliban member

Earlier this year, DOGE discovered the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) had transferred $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, a former Taliban member who was Afghanistan’s former Chief of Protocol. DOGE announced on March 31 that the contract was canceled. 

Halimi was detained by the U.S. and held at Bagram Air Base for a year beginning Jan. 2, 2002. He held several positions in Afghanistan’s government following his release and was appointed as the Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in Afghanistan in 2020. 

“A small agency called the United States Institute of Peace is definitely the agency we’ve had the most fight at. We actually went into the agency and found they had loaded guns inside their headquarters — Institute for Peace,” a DOGE staffer told Watters. “So by far, the least peaceful agency that we’ve worked with, ironically. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don’t encounter that in most agencies.”

USIP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry. 

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Parties at Caesars Palace 

Fox News Digital reported earlier this year that the nation’s schools spent $200 billion in COVID-relief funds on expenses “with little oversight or impact on students,” such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and buying an ice cream truck, according to DOGE’s audits. 

Granite School District in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms for an educational conference at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas casino, while Santa Ana Unified in California spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE. Granite School District has since denied “any impropriety for having our educators participate” in the Las Vegas conference.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

“They were basically partying on the taxpayers’ dollars,” Musk told Watters on Thursday. 

CAESARS PALACE, MLB STADIUM, AN ICE CREAM TRUCK: DOGE REVEALS HOW SCHOOLS SPENT BILLIONS IN COVID-RELIEF FUNDS

Millions for ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus and who has collaborated closely with Musk to identify waste to cut, revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “authorized a whopping $20 million to create a ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq.” 

Ernst said that under the Biden administration, USAID awarded the $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshop to produce a show called “Ahlan Simsim Iraq” in an effort to “promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups.” 

Billions in ‘improper payments’ in 2024 alone 

DOGE received a hand from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which released a report in March revealing that federal agencies wasted $162 billion in “improper payments,” which was actually a decrease of $74 billion from the previous fiscal year. 

GAO’s analysis revealed that of the 16 government agencies reporting improper payments, 75% of the waste found was concentrated in five programs: $54 billion from three Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Medicare programs; $31 billion in HHS Medicaid; $16 billion from the Department of the Treasury’s earned income tax credit; $11 billion from the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $9 billion from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Restaurant Revitalization Fund. 

Large amounts of DEI spending within the federal government

On the campaign trail and since taking office, Trump has made it clear he aims to slash diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending in the federal government, while making the case that a system of meritocracy should be the focus.

DOGE has announced over the last few months that it has cut hundreds of millions in DEI contracts. 

Earlier this month, DOGE announced it had worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel 402 “wasteful” DEI grants, which will save $233 million, including $1 million for “Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation.”

The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of DEI programs, the agency announced last month.

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The Defense Department has been working with DOGE to slash wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media.

Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.”

The Trump administration announced earlier this month it is slashing millions of dollars in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of its overall DOGE push.

And in February, the Department of Education said it is canceling more than $100 million in grants to DEI training as part of DOGE’s efforts. 

Father allegedly kills officer in car crash hours after his teen son was shot dead by police

An Ohio sheriff’s deputy working on a traffic detail near the University of Cincinnati was struck and killed Friday by a vehicle driven by the father of a teenager who was shot and killed by authorities a day earlier, police said. 

The unidentified Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputy was fatally struck around 1 p.m. near the university, which was hosting a graduation ceremony.

The deputy was directing traffic at an intersection when he was hit, Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge told reporters at a news conference. The deputy was taken to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died. 

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He was not identified Friday. Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey described him as “wonderful and dedicated.”

“I knew the man, and I knew what a tremendous, tremendous person he is and what a tremendous loss we have all suffered,” she said. 

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The deputy retired a few months ago but continued to work as a “special deputy,” the sheriff said. 

The father of an 18-year-old who was shot and killed by Cincinnati police Thursday was driving the car that hit the deputy, authorities said. He was also taken to a hospital. 

During an afternoon commencement ceremony, UC President Neville Pinto called for a moment of silence in his opening remarks. 

“Before we get started, sadly, I have to report an incident that occurred today with a Hamilton County deputy sheriff on Martin Luther King Drive,” Pinto said. “It was a very serious incident, and I would like to ask for a moment of silence to respect this officer.”

The Cincinnati Police Department is leading the investigation into the deputy’s killing. 

The son of the suspect was shot and killed Thursday as Cincinnati police officers chased four suspected car thieves in an encounter that lasted just six seconds. The officers responded to a call around 9:30 a.m. about a Kia SUV stolen from Edgewood, Kentucky, when four suspects inside the car took off running, Fox 19 Now reported. 

One officer ran after one suspect, while the other officer pursued another. 

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One of the suspects had a handgun, Theetge said. The suspect allegedly pointed the gun, which had an extended magazine, at the officer, who opened fire, fatally striking the teen. 

Two other suspects were caught and arrested, and one remains on the run. 

47-year-old transgender swimmer takes gold in every race entered at championship

A transgender swimmer won five women’s races at the U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championship last weekend. 

The swimmer, 47-year-old Ana Caldas, dominated all five races the athlete competed in, taking gold in the women’s age 45-49 category in five races, including the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke, freestyle and the 100-yard individual medley.

The controversy prompted backlash on social media. 

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U.S. Masters Swimming has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing the controversy. 

“USMS is aware of allegations regarding the eligibility of a swimmer who competed at our Spring National Championship. We have received an eligibility review request and will follow our formal process to make a determination,” the statement read. 

“USMS exists to empower adults to improve their lives through swimming. The health and fitness benefits of swimming are the primary focus of that mission, but we also strive to create a community that values fairness, competition, and inclusion. In that spirit, USMS has had a longstanding policy on transgender swimmers that was created, and periodically reviewed and updated, by relevant member committees with input from subject matter experts. The policy includes procedures to address questions of eligibility.”

U.S. Masters Swimming’s gender eligibility policy allows transgender swimmers to participate in the gender competition category in which they identify, and they may also be recognized for accomplishments, granted certain conditions are met. 

One of those conditions requires that a “hormonal therapy appropriate for the female gender has been administered continuously and uninterrupted in a verifiable manner for a sufficient length of time, no less than one year, to minimize gender-related advantages in sport competitions” and subsequent proof of low enough testosterone levels. 

In June 2023, Texas passed the Save Women’s Sports Act, which bans trans athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports and only allows students to compete in the gender category listed on their birth certificate. The law only allows schools to recognize changes made to birth certificates that were made to correct a clerical error.

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And just last week, the Texas Senate voted to pass the Texas Women’s Privacy Act by a vote of 20-11. The bill ensures women are safe in their bathrooms, locker rooms, showers and domestic abuse shelters. 

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President Donald Trump has had an executive order in place since Feb. 5 that requires publicly funded institutions to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls sports. 

The topic of trans competitors in women’s swimming specifically became a national controversy in 2022 when former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who previously competed for the school’s men’s swimming team, represented the school at the NCAA championships after transitioning to the women’s category. 

UPenn and the NCAA are facing lawsuits over Thomas’ participation in women’s swimming, and the Trump administration has frozen funding to UPenn and declared it has violated Title IX. 

Jen Psaki claims a ‘dangerous term’ has been deployed to talk about Biden’s presidency

MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki insisted in a new interview that she never saw signs that former President Joe Biden had declined while she worked for him.

“I never saw that person —not a single time, and I was in the Oval Office every day, that was on that debate stage,” Psaki said on the “Mixed Signals” podcast about Biden’s performance during the June 2024 presidential debate which raised alarms about his fitness to serve another term. He dropped out the following month and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee.

“I’m not a doctor. Aging happens quite quickly,” Psaki added on the Semafor podcast that was published Friday.

The former Biden aide, who left the White House in May 2022, said she hadn’t seen him in person in the two-and-a-half years afterward leading up to the November election. 

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But she warned against people using the term “cover-up” to describe how the White House responded to questions about the president’s age during that time.

“‘Cover-up’ is a very loaded term,” Psaki said, adding that people typically use that expression when talking about a crime.

“People use that term as related to Watergate. Or the covering up of not sharing public information about a war,” she continued. “I think it’s a bit of a dangerous term.”

Psaki was also hesitant to criticize the media when asked if the press should’ve been “more aggressive” in covering the “pretty big story” about the president’s health.

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“Maybe the media missed a lot,” she said, while arguing that it was easier to be critical of press coverage in retrospect. “There were major stories and moments missed.”

Axios reporter Alex Thompson used a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday to say the assembled media “should have done better” at covering Biden’s decline.

Psaki suggested one reason there may have been a reluctance to report on these concerns.

“While we know there were problematic things behind-the-scenes now in 2023 and 2024, there was an aggressive all-out pitching operation from the right-wing and from the Republicans about Joe Biden’s age and how he was in decline….the majority of which wasn’t true, in 2019-2022,” Psaki claimed.

That effort by the right “worked,” she said.

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Psaki lamented that Biden’s legacy would be tainted by how the 2024 race played out and brought questions about his fitness to the forefront. Her successor as press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, routinely dismissed questions about Biden’s age and criticized videos of him appearing confused as “cheap fakes.”

Psaki is set to take on a more prominent role at MSNBC, getting the coveted 9 p.m. ET slot Tuesdays through Fridays beginning next week on a program called “The Briefing.” Top-rated MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who had been hosting five nights a week at 9 p.m. during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, will return to only broadcasting on Monday nights.

Psaki’s comments follow the release of several bombshell books giving an insider look at the 2024 presidential race.

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In author Chris Whipple’s book, “Uncharted,” he argued that Biden’s inner circle “convinced themselves in spite of the evidence” that Biden was capable of serving another term.

China contacts Trump admin about dangerous drug problem amid raging trade war

A top Chinese government official is asking what the Trump administration wants the communist nation to do about chemicals used to make fentanyl amid an ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies. 

Wang Xiaohong, China’s minister of public security, has been making inquiries about what Trump wants China to do about the fentanyl issue over the last few days, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Chinese companies produce precursors, large quantities of chemicals that eventually flow to Mexican drug cartels, which then make fentanyl and smuggle it into the United States. 

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Beijing could possibly have Wang meet with senior Trump administration officials in a neutral country, the newspaper reported. 

Trump has tried to persuade China, Mexico and Canada to do more to combat the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. 

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“China has consistently failed to take meaningful steps to stem the flow of precursor chemicals to known illicit drug producers,” the White House told Fox News Digital. “Most governments could do so through regulation and enforcement – this is especially true for an authoritarian state like China.”

Upon taking office, Trump imposed 20% tariffs on China over its role in the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S., which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.

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Since then, Trump has increased tariffs on China to 145%, while Beijing has retaliated with 125% tariffs on American goods. 

Ambassador pleads for Trump’s help with two nuclear powers on the verge of war

EXCLUSIVE: Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. is warning of potentially catastrophic consequences if India follows through with what Islamabad claims could be an imminent military strike in response to a recent attack in the disputed Kashmir region.

War between the two nuclear-armed states could get ugly quickly, and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh is calling on President Donald Trump to leverage his self-professed dealmaker credentials to hammer out an agreement with India.

“This is one nuclear flashpoint,” the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. “It could be an important part of President Trump’s legacy to attend to this situation — not with a Band-Aid solution, but by addressing the core issue: the Kashmir dispute.”

Saeed described India’s response to the attack in Pahalgam — which left several Indian security forces dead — as dangerously premature and inflammatory. “Within minutes of the attack, India began leveling accusations against Pakistan,” he said, noting that a post-investigation report was filed just 10 minutes after the incident occurred, despite the remote and rugged terrain near the scene. 

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Pakistan claimed this week to have “credible intelligence” that an Indian counter-attack on its territory is imminent. The Indian Embassy in the U.S. did not respond to requests for comment on this story before publication time. 

The dust-up began with a tourist massacre on April 22 in Belgaum, Kashmir. All but one of the victims were Indian citizens, and India swiftly pointed the finger at Pakistan, which rejected the charge. 

The attack occurred in a remote valley only accessible on foot or by horse, and survivors claimed after the attack that the gunmen had accused some of the victims of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The ambassador warned that the region, home to over 1.5 billion people, is once again being held “hostage to the war of hysteria” by India’s government and media, who immediately “began beating war drums.” The pair of rivals have exchanged gunfire across their heavily militarized borders since the attack. 

He cited Pakistan’s request for evidence linking it to the attack and Islamabad’s offer to participate in a neutral, transparent inquiry — both of which he said have gone unanswered.

“Any misadventure or miscalculation can lead to a nuclear interface,” the ambassador said. “That is certainly not desirable in such a densely populated region.”

PAKISTAN FEARS INDIA INCURISON ‘IMMINENT’ AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS FOLLOWING TERROR ATTACK

While Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack, the ambassador said those suspected are reportedly Indian nationals whose homes have already been raided. He questioned why India is looking outside its borders rather than addressing what he characterized as “administrative inadequacies” in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory he repeatedly referred to as “illegally occupied.”

He also criticized India’s broader policies in Kashmir, including the alleged settlement of non-residents into the region, and what he called threats to unilaterally block water flows from Pakistan’s rivers — a move he said violates the long-standing Indus Waters Treaty.

“That is as grossly illegal as it can get,” said Saeed. “This is one treaty that has withstood wars between India and Pakistan.” Pakistan has said they would consider the cutting off of water supplies an act of war — and made pleas to The Hague, accusing New Delhi of water terrorism.

The ambassador called on nations around the globe to help with a lasting settlement. 

“Previously, when the situation has been at this level or the tensions have escalated, the international community has attended to the situation, but taken their eyes, their attention away, even before the situation could fully diffuse,” said Saeed. “This time, perhaps it would be… timely in terms of the situation elsewhere on the globe, with similar instances, which one can note and see and are being attended to to perhaps not afford a Band-Aid solution, but to address the broader problem.”

PAKISTAN FEARS INDIA INCURSION ‘IMMINENT’ AMID HEIGHTENED TENSIONS FOLLOWING TERROR ATTACK

India and Pakistan each control parts of the Kashmir region, but both claim it in full. They have fought three wars over the territory.

In 2019, a cross-border attack carried out by militants killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary personnel in Kashmir. India responded by bombing targets inside Pakistan. 

Modi’s government revoked Muslim-majority Kashmir’s autonomy in 2019, bringing it back under Indian control and prompting protests. 

Kashmir has been a disputed region since both India and Pakistan gained their autonomy from Britain in 1947. The region is now one of the most militarized in the world. Violence by regional militant groups has left tens of thousands dead. 

But Modi’s aggressive stance in Kashmir has precipitated relative peace over the past five years, boosting his popularity domestically. He may feel political pressure to respond with force to the most recent dust-up. 

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Pakistan has been ravaged by terrorism for decades, and Saeed said the nation has lost anywhere between 70,000 and 90,000 lives over the past 20 years to terror attacks. 

“We cannot afford any instability in the neighborhood,” said Saeed. “We want a peaceful neighborhood. But as we have been repeatedly mentioning at all levels, leadership level and all the other levels, that we want peace, but that should not in any way be misconstrued as a sign of weakness. We want peace with dignity.”

NFL legend makes major legal move after golf cart incident kills longtime agent