Fetterman's Wife Wants 'Consquences' For NBC News Reporter

The Fettermens

The wife of Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman demanded "consequences" for the NBC News reporter who spoke about her husband's health problems last week, reports The Washington Examiner.

Gisele Barreto Fetterman said there had been no consequences for reporter Dasha Burns's comments, claiming the reporter was an "ableist" who discriminated against her husband after he suffered a stroke earlier this year.

“I don’t like saying rage because I think that’s a really unhealthy feeling, and when you feel those things, it only harms yourself,” Fetterman told Fast Politics host Molly Jong-Fast. “But I just, you know, what a disservice that she did to not only my husband, but to anyone facing a disability and working through it. I don’t know how there were not consequences. I mean, there are consequences for folks in these positions who are any of the -isms. I mean, she was ableist, and that’s what she was in her interview.”

Fetterman's campaign asked for closed captioning in the interview, Burns said, because he had problems with audio processing from the stroke. Hearing a person talk normally can be challenging for those who have audio processing problems, but there are no troubles when it comes to reading questions.

“Fetterman’s campaign required closed captioning technology for this interview to essentially read our questions as we asked them,” Burns told Nightly News host Lester Holt on Tuesday. “And Lester, in small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.”

We were happy to accommodate closed captioning. Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide. What we do push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job. Fetterman sat down and answered our questions. That’s his job. https://t.co/gFZ02hlUs5

— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) October 12, 2022

Burns's comments were quickly seized on by liberal media figures who rushed to defend Fetterman — who is locked in a tight battle with Dr. Mehmet Oz for the Senate seat. However, Burns defended her statement and interview, claiming that she did her job in being transparent, and Fetterman did his by answering her questions through closed captioning in the interview.