In a new interview with The New York Post, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman teed off on squatters and insisted they were criminals.
The Pennsylvania senator recounted his experience with squatters during his time as mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania between 2006 and 2019, saying he always tried to push back on it.
“Squatters have no rights,” Fetterman asserted. “How can you even pretend that this is anything other than you’re just breaking the law?”
In stark contrast to his progressive Democratic colleagues, Fetterman declared, “I am not woke."
“It’s wild, that if you go away on a long trip, for 30 days, and someone breaks into your home and suddenly they have rights,” Fetterman continued. “This is crazy. Like if somebody stole your car, and then they held it for 30 days, then somehow you now have some rights?”
Fetterman then commented on the fatal shooting of New York Police Department (NYPD) Detective Jonathan Diller, noting he had previously attended funerals for fallen officers.
“If this individual is convicted, then he should spend the rest of his life in prison, and never have an opportunity to get out," the Pennsylvania senator said of Diller's alleged killer, Guy Rivera, who has an extensive arrest record spanning drug and violence charges.
Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Diller.
Fetterman said he believed in second chances for criminals, though noted Rivera's criminal record was egregious.
“If you have those kinds of established records, it doesn’t serve any greater goal to allow people that are offending, offending, offending and allow them to not be held accountable,” he said.
Fetterman added, "We have to be very smart and aggressive on crime."
Fetterman has taken opposing positions to other policies supported by his Democratic colleagues by throwing support behind stricter border security along with unabashedly expressing support for Israel amidst their conflict in the middle east with Hamas. However, the Pennsylvania senator has also taken issue with Democratic colleagues who have criticized President Joe Biden amidst his bid for re-election this November.
“All kinds of Democrats [are] criticizing the president too publicly. I don’t understand why,” Fetterman said during a February appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe. “I don’t know what it’s in it for you to do that, whether you’re just chasing clout or you want to make it in the news or anything like that."
"If you’re not willing to just support the president now and say these kinds of things, you might as well just get your MAGA hat, because you now are helping Trump at this," he added.
Despite expressing concern over the election, Fetterman said he believed Biden would defeat Trump in November.
“I believe there’s only one person that can beat Trump, and that’s Joe Biden because right now he’s the only person in America that actually has beaten Trump,” he said.
