Democratic Sen. John Fetterman Defends Donald Trump To Progressive Hosts Of ‘The View’

Baila Eve ZismanJanuary 29, 2025, 8:25 pmNews >

On Monday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) appeared on The View to share surprising beliefs with several progressive hosts.

Speaking about Donald Trump’s infamous hush-money trial, Fetterman railed against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s prosecution in which Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.

He protested, highlighting his own political flexibility: “I’m on record critiquing, going after Hunter Biden. And I also agree that the [Trump hush-money] trial in this city, in New York, was politically motivated.”

Surprised, host Sunny Hostin clarified, “Did you mean that the 34-count case in which Donald Trump was found guilty of various financial crimes was politically motivated here in New York?”

Fetterman responded, “I found that when the judicial system gets weaponized and targets political enemies for political gain, I think that is inappropriate. I think that degrades our collective trust in this very important institution. Whether that’s a Democrat going after a Republican or a Republican going after a Democrat, I like to think I call it strikes and balls because the judicial system has to remain impartial. That’s really the cornerstone of our society.”

Fetterman met with Trump earlier this month before the inauguration and remembered his visit with the president at Mar-a-Lago. “Overall, it was a positive experience,” he said. “I mean, he was kind, he was cordial. It wasn’t in any kind of theater. It wasn’t trying to get your picture taken to kind of put something out on social media. It was just, really, conversation; we actually spoke for over an hour.”

Fetterman discussed the optics of his political relationship with Trump: “I think it’s pretty reasonable to have a conversation… there are things I’m going to agree with and things I’m going to disagree with, but I’m in the business of finding wins for Pennsylvania and for the nation and engaging the president.”

In an interview with The Washington Examiner, Trump described Fetterman as “a commonsense person. He’s not liberal or conservative. He’s just a commonsense person, which is beautiful.”

Although his relationships with hard-right Republicans have raised questions as to whether Fetterman has plans to switch parties, Fetterman told Semafor last week that such rumors are “amateur-hour s—.”

To Trump’s inauguration, Fetterman was recently slammed on social media for wearing shorts and a hoodie.