Fetterman Takes a Big Swing at Bernie Sanders For Not Regretting Backing an ‘Accused Rapist’: ‘Stop This Now’

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) pulled no punches during a CNBC interview on Tuesday in hammering the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and its leader Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

CNBC host Joe Kernen asked Fetterman to weigh in on left-wing Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed telling donors recently he wanted to put an “ogre on a pike” – referring to Fetterman. El-Sayed was arguing that by primarying Fetterman out of the Democratic Party, he could further bolster the progressive agenda in the party and push moderates to accept them as the power base of the party.

“Senator, you can comment on the Michigan individual? I didn’t even understand what that meant. I think you’ve kind of embraced the whole Shrek analogy, kind of laughed at that,” Kernen began, adding:

But I think what he was saying was that they need to make an example out of you — that a Democrat who was elected as a Democrat shouldn’t be able to say the things you’re saying, because you were supposedly elected with Democrat values that you need to stick to. But since when did some of these Democrat values include some of the things you just talked about? So I don’t even understand the point that this gentleman was making.

“Yeah, I mean, I never worked out in male modeling, you know — yeah, I mean, you could call me Senator Shrek, whatever. But this guy is really the Pontiac Platner. And now he’s really running to be the head of our emerging pro-Hamas wing here in the party,” Fetterman replied, adding:

So, for me, politically, some of the things that he said or done are unacceptable. I’m not really sure what I’ve really done or voted for that has offended “the little guy” so much, but overall, right now, this is a serious game that we’re engaging in, and these same people — like Bernie Sanders and others — created the Platner disaster.

He was asked just this Sunday, and he said he has no regrets. Yeah, I have no regrets supporting an accused rapist. I have no regrets supporting a guy with a Nazi tattoo on his chest and a guy that roughed up his ex-girlfriends. There’s a level of arrogance, and they believe — they feel like they have some weird mandate. Now, stop this now, call it out. That’s what I’m willing to do as a committed Democrat. So I think that’s pretty reasonable, and I think it’s more necessary if more people are willing to do that.

Fetterman was referring to Sanders’s backing of now-former Maine U.S. Senator Graham Platner, whose scandal-plagued campaign ended after he was accused of rape by a former girlfriend. Sanders told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation over the weekend that he did not have any regrets about his vehement support for Platner, which abruptly ended once the rape allegation was made public, but after a string of other disturbing allegations from women.

Speculation has run rampant in recent weeks and months that Fetterman may choose to switch parties after the midterms. NBC News reported on Monday that Fetterman mused aloud about why he would stay in the Democratic Senate caucus. “So, if the Democratic caucus doesn’t want me, they could just let me know,” Fetterman told the outlet.

Watch the clip above via CNBC.

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