John Fetterman again REFUSES to commit to releasing more medical records following stroke

Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman thrice refused to commit to provide additional medical records to prove he’s fit to serve post-stroke, during an interview Wednesday. 

Fetterman participated in a livestreamed Q&A with PennLive’s editorial board where he was again asked if he’d be releasing more information from his doctor before the November 8 midterm election, after being non-committal in an interview Tuesday with NBC News. 

‘I would say that if there was anything that changed, or whatever, I absolutely would have updated that, other than the progress that I have made is evident,’ Fetterman answered. 

On June 3, Fetterman released a letter from his cardiologist who had seen him the day before in the aftermath of his May 13 stroke, which was caused by a heart condition. 

‘The prognosis I can give for John’s heart is this: if he takes his medications, eats healthy, and exercises, he’ll be fine,’ Dr. Ramesh Chandra wrote at the time. ‘If he does what I’ve told him, and I do believe he is taking his recovery and his health very seriously at this time, he should be able to campaign and serve in the U.S. Senate without a problem.’ 

Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman thrice refused to commit to provide additional medical records during an interview on Wednesday with PennLive.com’s editorial board

 On June 3, Fetterman released a letter from his cardiologist who had seen him the day before in the aftermath of his May 13 stroke, which was caused by a heart condition

So far, Fetterman hasn’t released a follow-up letter. 

The lieutenant governor argued, ‘it’s evident,’ that there’s been improvement. 

‘I certainly would not have been able to sit in front of you back in May or in June or July,’ Fetterman offered.  

‘I think the ultimate kinds of transparency is to be in front of thousands of people on a stage not using a teleprompter,’ he continued, adding that most politicians use teleprompters ‘but nobody wonders if he or she is able to do the job.’ 

While it had been previously reported that Fetterman is using closed captioning for interviews, MSNBC’s interview with the candidate on Tuesday garnered great attention because it showed viewers how the system worked. 

The campaign said Wednesday that Fetterman’s campaign had brought in more than $1 million in 24 hours in his run against the Trump-backed, Republican TV personality, Dr. Mehmet Oz. 

However, it created controversy, with the reporter, NBC News’ Dasha Burns, suggesting ‘it wasn’t clear he understood what I was saying’ when she and Fetterman were making small talk before they started. 

Kara Swisher, who recently had Fetterman as a guest on her podcast, On With Kara Swisher, knocked down Burns’ claim calling it ‘nonsense.’ 

‘I’ve always been very honest about saying I need captioning,’ Fetterman said Wednesday to the PennLive editorial board. 

‘In fact I just did an in-depth conversation on M …NBC and I let them know here’s the captioning,’ he continued, slightly slipping over the name of the media outlet. 

However, clips of the interview did run on both MSNBC and NBC platforms. 

‘I’m doing captioning with all of you right now,’ Fetterman said. ‘Because I know that you’re speaking and sometimes I will hear it, but if I’m asked for a very specific kind of question, I need to know exactly what that is.’ 

The Democratic hopeful pointed out that ‘half of Americans watch TV with using captions too.’

When pressed about additional documentation a second time, Fetterman, again, pointed to the June doctor’s letter.

‘If they don’t think I’m well enough, you know, they certainly wouldn’t have allowed me to continue,’ he argued. ‘And if I don’t believe I was healthy enough, I certainly wouldn’t be … walking, you know, live without a net.’  

Another memeber of the editorial board said she believed Fetterman was being ‘reticent’ about putting his medical information out for public consumption – and asked if any other records might be forthcoming. 

The candidate once again argued he’d already been cleared by medical professionals.

‘I believe that and that’s what – that’s what they’ve already done,’ the Pennsylvania Democrat said.