Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has disclosed the reasons behind his fractured relationship with the state’s Governor, Josh Shapiro, in a revealing new memoir.
In his book titled “Unfettered,” the 56-year-old dedicates an entire chapter, “The Shapiro Affair,” to this long-standing discord, tracing its origins back several years.
As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the tension between Fetterman and Shapiro began during their tenure on Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons. At the time, Fetterman was serving as the Lieutenant Governor and chaired the board, while Shapiro was the state’s attorney general.
Their disagreement stemmed from Fetterman’s efforts to increase the number of commutations. In his memoir, he lists several individuals whom he believed deserved clemency but were denied release.
Their conflict reached a boiling point during a 2020 Zoom hearing involving the case of Lee and Dennis Horton, two brothers convicted of murder. Fetterman passionately advocated for their release, highlighting the case’s controversial nature.
The conflict between the two came to ahead in a 2020 Zoom hearing about the case of two brothers, Lee and Dennis Horton, who were serving time for a murder conviction that was under heavy scrutiny. Fetterman demanded they be released.
According to Fetterman, Shapiro gave a ‘very long winded and unnecessary speech’, before shooting down their commutation.
After he was finished speaking, Fetterman revealed he blurted out ‘f****** a**hole’, without realizing his microphone was still on.
John Fetterman claimed the animosity between him and Governor Josh Shapiro goes back years, dedicating a whole chapter to it in his new memoir titled ‘The Shapiro Affair’
Fetterman said that their strained relationship all started after both serving on the state’s Board of Pardons. Pictured: Josh Shapiro at a campaign rally in 2024
Following the outburst, Fetterman then threatened to run against Shapiro in the 2022 Democratic primary for governor, the Inquirer reported, unless more of the cases for commutation were passed through.
He cited the case of the Horton brothers and eight months later the two were granted a hearing and in December 2020 the board moved to free them.
Fetterman added in the book that a member of Shapiro’s staff, who he named as Joe Radosevich, reached out to him.
He added: ‘He wanted me to retract things I had said and to deny the rumors about the private meeting taking place. That wasn’t going to happen.’
According to Fetterman the relationship between the two ‘never recovered’, despite the Horton brothers being freed.
Fetterman also said he believed that Shapiro was playing the long game by refusing some of the commutations.
He added: ‘Shapiro was far more cautious, and at a certain point I began to think that what was influencing him was not mere caution but political ambition.
‘I believe what drove him to delay and deny applications was not the facts of a given case as much as a fear that someone whose sentence he’d commuted would go on to commit terrible violence on the outside.’
The two are seen here walking with a steelworkers union in the state while both running for their current offices
The two men are seen here alongside then President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama at a rally in Pennsylvania in November of 2022
Despite the bad blood, Fetterman said that since the spat Shapiro has ‘become hotter than hot, one of two finalists for the vice-presidential nod in 2024, a bright star in the Democratic party, and a front-runner for the presidential nomination in 2028.
‘I sincerely wish him the best. He is a credit to the state and may one day be a credit to the country.
Unfettered, the memoir of Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman was released on Tuesday
‘I remember fondly the days when we were nobodies trying to climb the ladder. Even if we no longer speak.’
In the book, the senator described his 2022 run for the U.S. Senate, which was interrupted when he suffered a debilitating stroke. He admitted that he should have dropped out of the race.
He candidly spoke about the depression he suffered afterward, even after clinching a five-point victory against the Republican nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
The depression took a toll on his marriage, with Fetterman writing that during his stint in hospital when he wasn’t supposed to have access to the internet, he sneaked a look at the headlines on the iPad he was given to aid his auditory processing problems.
The book also touched on his relationship with his wife Gisele, who penned her own chapter in which she provided some very candid details about their 17 year marriage.
She said: ‘We have three beautiful children together. You have a core of kindness. You like Paul Rudd and Metallica and The Simpsons and Dumb and Dumber. It is never a dull moment with you.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Shapiro for comment.
