Sen. John Fetterman’s former chief of staff wrote a letter to a doctor involved with the Pennsylvania senator’s treatment for clinical depression, detailing “warning signs” and expressing concern for the senator’s mental health.
New York Magazine reported Friday that Adam Jentleson, who served as Fetterman’s chief of staff from 2022 to 2024, listed a number of concerns in the letter, including worry that the senator was not taking his medication as prescribed and was not following through with checkups.
Jentleson had previously communicated updates about the senator’s care to the public after Fetterman checked into a hospital in February 2023 to receive treatment for clinical depression. Fetterman remained there for six weeks, and declared his depression “in remission” when he left. Fetterman previously had a stroke in May 2022, during his Senate campaign.
One year after Fetterman completed his inpatient treatment, Jentleson detailed “warning signs we discussed” to David Williamson, a doctor who had helped with Fetterman’s care at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“I think John is on a bad trajectory and I’m really worried about him,” Jentleson said in his letter, according to NY Mag. The New York Times also obtained a copy of the letter, which was sent via email with the subject line, “concerns.”
“Conspiratorial thinking; megalomania (for example, he claims to be the most knowledgeable source on Israel and Gaza around but his sources are just what he reads in the news — he declines most briefings and never reads memos); high highs and low lows; long, rambling, repetitive and self centered monologues; lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room,” Jentleson said, according to NY Mag.
Jentleson also expressed worry about Fetterman purchasing a gun, and said he’d warned others not to get in a car with Fetterman if the senator was driving.
The New York Times reports Fetterman called the NY Mag article — which also detailed the concerns of other staffers and alleged worried comments from Fetterman’s wife Gisele — a “hit piece,” and said “my ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I’m very well.” Gisele Fetterman told NY Mag Jentleson told her “scary, untrue stories about John’s health.”
During his time in the Senate, Fetterman has become known as a staunch ally for Israel, and has been more willing to break with progressive Democrats on a number of issues.
He was the first sitting Democratic senator to meet with President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after he defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.