Fetterman Needs To Prove He's 'Alive And Well': West PA GOP Party

WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA — The Washington County Republican Party has called on currently hospitalized Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman to "appear on camera to show us he is alive and well."

If Fetterman - who has been being treated since mid-February for clinical depression - is unable to do so and carry out his duties, the county party will ask for his resignation and call for a special election to replace him.

"No more lies or games," Washington County GOP Chairman Sean Logue said in a Feb. 27th statement.

The statement was issued before Adam Jentleson, Fetterman's chief of staff, tweeted pictures of the senator during a meeting on Monday with him at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Jentleson said they discussed several items Fetterman is expected to work on when he resumes his duties full-time.

However, Logue told PennLive that he is skeptical of anything Fetterman's office releases. He noted that the photos did not include closed captioning equipment that Fetterman has used to understand conversations since he suffered a near-fatal stroke during the Senate campaign.

Logue contended that if Fetterman was healthy enough to appear in photos, he should be able to provide a 30-second statement on camera.

"I do not have the burden of proof to show what Fetterman can do;. He does," Logue stated in a social media post on Thursday. "I want to know if he can do the job. Why am I the bad guy for asking that simple question?

Patch has reached out to Fetterman's office for a comment on Logue's assertions.

Before being elected to the Senate last November, Fetterman, 53, was Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor. He also is the former mayor of Braddock, a small town near Pittsburgh.