John Fetterman's top aides abandon him amid spiraling health fears
Ailing Senator John Fetterman continues to hemorrhage staffers as two more top aides bailed just before the recent series of reports alleging his health is deteriorating.
A blockbuster New York Magazine feature painted the Pennsylvania Senator as not well and behaving erratically since being treated for depression.
Further tales have been published since, including an old video of Fetterman behaving poorly on a plane and driving a staffer to tears with an outburst during a meeting with union representatives.
As Democrat leadership ponders what to do, two more key aides have departed Fetterman's staff.
Madeleine Marr and Caroline Shaffer departed shortly before the earth-shattering feature on the Senator, which quoted several anonymous staffers.
The pair were listed as legislative assistants for Fetterman and had been with him since early 2023 when he took office.
In the past 18 months, Fetterman has lost several communications staffers, a legislative director and his former chief of staff Adam Jentleson, who went on the record about his concerns for his ex-boss' health in the New York Magazine story.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Senator Fetterman for comment.
Ailing Senator John Fetterman continues to hemorrhage staffers as two more top aides bailed just before the recent series of reports alleging his health is deteriorating
A blockbuster New York Magazine feature painted the Pennsylvania Senator as not well and behaving erratically since being treated for depression
At least two liberal Senators admitted there are strategy meetings in an attempt to assist the ailing Fetterman.
One Senate Democrat said they had been 'involved in discussions' about how best to help him, adding that they 'are worried about his safety.'
A report by New York Magazine citing several individuals who made concerning accusations against him and claimed he was not taking his medication.
Only one staffer was willing to go public with the claims and Fetterman has denied them.
Some of the anonymous staffers shared marital strife and political disagreements with his wife Gisele.
Former Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson is the most public face of the story, titled 'The Hidden Struggle of John Fetterman.'
One year after Fetterman's release from the traumatic-brain-injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed Hospital, Jentleson wrote a letter the division's director who treated Fetterman there.
'I think John is on a bad trajectory and I'm really worried about him,' Jentleson wrote in the 1,600-word email with the subject line: 'Concerns.'
He added that the senator 'won't be with us for much longer' if he doesn't change his behavior, with Jentleson claiming these are 'the things you said to flag, so I am flagging.'
One of the things he was told to flag: that Fetterman purchased a gun, though Jentleson admits the senator 'takes all the necessary precautions, and living where he does I understand the desire for personal protection.'
Jentleson is referring to the hard-scrabble small town of Braddock where Fetterman served as mayor and still lives.
Fetterman is accused of everything from the physical - 'not taking his meds' to eating fast-food multiple times a day - to the mental - lying, 'self-centered monologues,' 'conspiratorial thinking; megalomania' - among his issues.
The senator is also allegedly obsessed with social media despite admitting it was an 'accelerant' of his depression and driving 'recklessly' to the point that staffers refused to ride with him and a police officer said it was 'a miracle no one died' after one accident last June.
Jentleson also argued that 'every person who was supposed to help him stay on his recovery plan has been pushed out.'
The former chief of staff later said in an interview a year after writing the letter that he's telling his side of the story because he believes Fetterman's trajectory has taken him out of consideration to lead the Democrats going forward.
'Part of the tragedy here is that this is a man who could be leading Democrats out of the wilderness but I also think he's struggling in a way that shouldn't be hidden from the public.'
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