‘Yelling questions’ at Fetterman in Capitol hallway won’t fly, adviser says
Washington — House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt said he wants to know what was in the letters written by a Republican who questioned Sen. Robert Fetterman’s physical condition at a Senate hearing yesterday.
“What was in those letters? Did he show up?” Gephardt asked his aide before the weekly news conference. “Did he talk about conditions? Did he talk about the health of Sen. Fetterman? Did he talk about his state of health? Those of us on the other side of the aisle were shouting questions and yelling questions and yelling questions.”
Gephardt’s aide responded, “Well, if he had a heart attack, he would have gone out and come back.”
Fetterman was asked to leave the hearing room where he is undergoing examination after a senator complained about his hearing at the hearing. The senator, who did not identify himself but said his name was Ransom, said there was no one in the hearing room for Fetterman. Another senator on the hearing panel said Fetterman was in the hearing room but did not answer questions.
Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asked Fetterman if he knew why he was being examined.
“No,” he said.
“Then I’m going to ask you to leave,” Frist said to him.
In response, Fetterman shook his head and walked out.
“I think Dick Gephardt is talking about this now, and if he had to pick the words that would get him all fired up, he would start off by saying Robert Fetterman was examined by a senator without an examination,” Gephardt said.
The chairman of the Senate Rules Committee said he wanted to know why the senator was examined without being told he had been.
“Did he come down here to tell us that he was
