Fetterman knocks Sanders for ‘pushing these communists’

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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Wednesday took aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for backing a slew of left-wing candidates, after the Democratic nominee in Maine’s Senate race, Graham Platner, suspended his campaign following a rape allegation.

“Bernie Sanders needs to apologize to the voters of Maine and to… everyone that donated to that trainwreck of a campaign,” Fetterman said on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” referring to his progressive counterpart’s staunch support of Platner.

“He keeps pushing these Communists and these… awful anti-American people, so there’s plenty of those people that have to humble themselves. … Humble yourself and stop pushing… these kinds of people on people in my party,” the Pennsylvania Democrat added.

Platner suspended campaign operations on Wednesday, after Jenny Racicot, who dated Platner, told Politico and CNN he raped her in 2021. Another woman who dated Platner, Lyndsey Fifield, told the Washington Post he removed his condoms without her consent while they had sex. Platner has denied the accusations.

After Racicot’s accusation, Sanders said the Maine Senate candidate should withdraw from the race.

Fetterman previously supported Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, while the Vermont senator backed Fetterman’s successful bids for lieutenant governor and senator.

However, Fetterman has undergone a political transition in the ensuing years, at times voting with Republicans against his party on major legislation. Fetterman has frequently hurled insults at Platner since he emerged as the front-runner to take on Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

In an 11-minute video he posted to social media on Wednesday night, Platner said the allegations against him are “all false” and blamed the Democratic establishment and media for forcing him out of the race.

“We’re not doing it because of the allegations, we’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power,” said Platner.

Prior to the latest round of allegations, many Democratic senators stood by Platner through a litany of scandals — including when reports revealed he had a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol, made disparaging comments about sexual assault survivors, multiple racial groups and law enforcement on Reddit and allegedly mistreated multiple former girlfriends.

That included Sanders, who sought to keep the focus on Platner’s political message.

“I think it’s better for this country that we start focusing on the enormous crises facing working people, a corrupt political system, than spending so much time worrying about… the personal life of an individual,” Sanders told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last month, after reports showed Platner sent sexual messages to women who were not his wife.

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John Fetterman

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