First-term Sen. John Fetterman remains in a Washington D.C. hospital, and complains of hearing the voice of the teacher from the “Peanuts” cartoon when listening to people speak. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May 2022 while campaigning for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat which has caused major cognitive issues, including a problem with auditory processing. Since joining the Senate, Fetterman has needed technological tools to help him conduct conversations with staff and colleagues. On Wednesday morning, he complained of lightheadedness and was immediately rushed to a D.C. hospital in fear that he was suffering another stroke.

John Fetterman Rushed To DC Hospital, May Have Suffered A Stroke

According to Fox:

Fetterman has to carry around a closed captioning device that types out what is being said to him so that he can have conversations, since he cannot fully understand the spoken word on his own.

Before moving to Washington, D.C., Fetterman’s office was equipped with closed captioning tablets. There are now wired screens in the Senate chamber where closed-captions are typed out for him by professional broadcast captioners.

Democratic colleagues described the closed captioning system as working to help Fetterman have seamless conversations.

“It’s just a slight delay,” said Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, D-Wash, the Times reported. “I didn’t notice he was using it at first. Then I was like, ‘Why are they holding it?’ It took me a minute to figure out what was going on.”

Fetterman refuses to speak with reporters due to being unable to take their questions in echoing Senate hallways, according to his chief of staff Adam Jentleson.