Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and his wife, Gisele, were both hospitalized following a car accident early Sunday morning in Maryland.
According to Maryland State Police, Sen. Fetterman was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Traverse when it collided with the back of a Chevrolet Impala in northern Maryland, close to the borders of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
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The Daily Mail reports that the accident happened in Hancock, Md., just before 8 a.m. Sunday.
Following the crash both of the Fettermans were transported to War Memorial Hospital in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Sen. Fetterman was treated for a bruised shoulder.
The Democrat has had a history of health ailments, most notably suffering a stroke while running for Senate in 2022.
Since his stroke Fetterman has suffered from audio impairments that have resulted in his needing a phone or tablet-based transcriber to clearly understand colleagues and reporters while working on Capitol Hill.
This has resulted in the installation of a live closed captioning system at the Democrats Washington, D.C. desk.
He has been known to respond, at times, with half sentences to reporters’ questions.
The crash happened on the westbound route of Interstate 70 near Interstate 68, authorities said.
“According to a preliminary investigation, a Chevrolet Traverse and a Chevrolet Impala were both traveling west on I-70 when for unknown reasons, the Traverse struck the rear of the Impala,” a spokesperson for the Maryland State Police told the Daily Mail. “A passenger in the Traverse and the operator of the Impala were transported by ambulance to War Memorial Hospital in West Virginia for treatment of their injuries.”
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A spokesperson for Fetterman’s office confirmed the incident to DailyMail.com.
‘On Sunday morning, John and Gisele were involved in a car accident with another driver.’
‘Out of an abundance of caution, they were evaluated at a local hospital.’
‘John was treated for a bruised shoulder and they were discharged that afternoon.’
The couple is ‘doing well’ and are ‘happy’ to be back at their home in Braddock, Pennsylvania, the spokesperson added.
It is not clear whether the senator, who had a debilitating stroke in May 2022 and still appears to suffer mild cognitive impairment as a result, was medically cleared to drive or whether that may have been a contributing factor in the accident. No citations were issued following the accident as the investigation into the crash “remains active and ongoing.”
Sen. Fetterman has made headlines recently for his staunch support of Israel and for his demand that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) step down after being indicted last year. He went as far as to criticize his own party for seeking to oust former Rep. George Santos while sparing Menendez, despite the latter facing allegations of significantly graver misconduct than what Santos was accused of.
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“Sen. Menendez, he needs to go,” Fetterman told the hosts of “The View” in December. “And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate?”