Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman refused to provide any updated medical reports on his mental fitness during a conversation Tuesday with NBC reporter Dasha Burns.
Burns pressed Fetterman on why he’s declined all requests for NBC to see his medical records, to interview members of his medical team and to get an update on his mental fitness after suffering a stroke in May.
“Right now, voters really have to take your word for it,” Burns said of the candidate’s self-reported mental fitness.
“Well, I feel like we have been transparent in a lot of different ways,” Fetterman replied. “Our doctor has already given a letter saying that I’m able to serve and to be running.”
The letter provided by Fetterman’s doctor is six months old, Burns noted, which would mean it was written before the candidate’s stroke.
NBC: “We’ve asked for your medical records… you’ve declined. Why?”
Fetterman: “Our doctor has already given a record saying I’m ready to serve.”
NBC: “That letter was six months ago. Don’t voters deserve to know your status now?”
Fetterman: I do speeches and give interviews pic.twitter.com/5yDNvaeYdN
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 11, 2022
“Don’t voters deserve to know your status now?” Burns said, continuing to push Fetterman, who argued that his ability to campaign in front of thousands of people was more than enough to justify his mental fitness.
“That gives everybody, and the voters decide if they think that it’s really the issue,” he concluded. (RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence Calls GOP Senate Candidate A ‘Rich Tw*t’)
Following the interview, Burns told NBC News that Fetterman had “lingering auditory processing issues as a result of the stroke,” meaning that he struggles to understand what he’s hearing. Since returning to his campaign in August, Fetterman has bailed on five different debates with his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz.