“The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg defended embattled U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Governor John Fetterman (D-PA) during Thursday’s broadcast, suggesting that he should not have to release his medical records prior to the midterm election in November.
Goldberg suggested that Fetterman — who has appeared to struggle on the campaign trail after his recent stroke — should not be required to provide medical records proving his ability to serve until he takes a seat in the Senate.
WATCH:
Whoopi defends Fetterman's refusal to release his medical records and suggests they should wait until January, 2 months after the election. pic.twitter.com/CJK9LGsApD
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2022
“So Fetterman’s doctor wrote a letter saying that this is a processing issue, he has no cognitive impairment and is fit to serve,” Goldberg began, citing a letter that was reportedly written months earlier and noting that the candidate had not released any other medical records.
“So people are saying, ‘Well, why hasn’t he done that?’ But should he put that issue to rest or do people have to wait for him to get better — for January — because when does he take over, he would take over in January, right?” Goldberg continued.
Co-host Sara Haines noted that Fetterman’s doctor had sent the letter in June – following his stroke in May — and that she thought possibly just updating the letter to show how much progress he had made in the interim might be enough to satisfy some of his critics.
WATCH:
Sunny attacks NBC's Dasha Burns, says it was "inappropriate" for her to admit that Fetterman is struggling.
"Maybe she's bad at small talk! Maybe it's her!" Whoopi chides.
Sunny claims Burns broke journalistic ethics and defends Fetterman saying she too requires closed captions. pic.twitter.com/yaknFJ0fqe— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2022
Co-host Sunny Hostin turned the attack on NBC’s Dasha Burns, who interviewed Fetterman and noted his use of closed captioning to navigate an ongoing auditory processing issue.
Hostin claimed it was “inappropriate” for Burns to report that Fetterman was struggling to comprehend even small talk, prompting Goldberg to interrupt, “Maybe she’s bad at small talk, maybe it’s her.”
Hostin went on to argue that revealing what was said in the small talk before the interview was something that journalists typically didn’t do — even suggesting that the small talk before the official televised interview might have been off the record – and added that she personally loved closed captions because sometimes it was hard for her to understand different accents.
She concluded by quoting Dr. Sanjay Gupta, saying that he assessed that Fetterman’s difficulties were solely with auditory processing and that he did not appear to be having any trouble understanding what was being said.