Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman sparred with an MSNBC host who questioned whether he warned Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign against selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
On Tuesday, Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate this November. Other contenders for Harris' VP pick were United States Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Shapiro.
During a Wednesday appearance on the network, guest host Ali Vitali questioned a recent POLITICO report which claimed the Pennsylvania senator's advisors warned Harris and her campaign that Fetterman believed Shapiro was focused on "his own personal ambitions"
"I never directed anyone on my team or anyone to do that. So that’s just not true," Fetterman said.
Vitali pressed Fetterman on whether he had any concerns about Shapiro as Harris' running mate.
"No, my [only] issue that ever existed with the current governor has nothing to do with anything that’s been talked about or any kind of public baggage within that article," the Pennsylvania senator said, adding his only concern about Shapiro came from their time together on Pennsylvania's Board of Pardons when Fetterman lieutenant governor and Shapiro was attorney general of the state. Walz is going to ‘kick some a--’
Sen. John Fetterman joins @AliVitali to deny that he had concerns about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro if he were picked as Vice President Harris’s running mate and to discuss Harris choosing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. pic.twitter.com/FbIZtxKTW9
— MSNBC Reports (@MSNBC_reports) August 7, 2024
Vitali noted Fetterman did not stand or applaud the Pennsylvania governor during Tuesday's rally where Shapiro introduced the Harris-Walz ticket.
"Is this just one of those old political rivalries in the same state or deeper policy issues like ones you reference on sentencing?" Vitali asked.
"If you’d like to ask, you can ask him," Fetterman replied.
"I'll ask you both," Vitali interjected.
"I thought I was here to talk about, you know, where we’re at now," Fetterman said.
Vitali then asked if Shapiro's snub for VP was due to concerns over his Jewish heritage and support for Israel.
"I just don’t understand why we’re talking about a choice that was already made. I was very clear that the vice president is perfectly capable of picking whoever they want. They have effectively unlimited funding. She has access to every Democratic expert, and she made her choice. And that’s where we’re at right now," Fetterman said.
"And [Walz]’s right on the stage right now in Wisconsin, and why are we talking about this weird stuff? I don’t understand that," he said.
Former President Donald Trump's running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance similarly posed whether Shapiro's snub for VP was due to antisemitism in the Democratic Party.
"Josh Shapiro in particular was attacked mercilessly from the far left for being Jewish, for not being anti-Israel enough," Vance said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News, noting Shapiro had distanced himself from previous statements in recent weeks. "The fact that you're letting antisemites within the Democrat Party drive so much of the conversation and so much of the decision making for Kamala Harris is a really worrying sign."
"I don't care ultimately who Kamala Harris selects, but I don't want the vice-presidential nomination of any party being determined by whether you have the right ethnic background. It's profoundly anti-American," he added.
