Washington DC - Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has responded after a number of his former staffers accused him of refusing to perform key parts of his job.

In a recent statement to CNN, Fetterman criticized The Wall Street Journal for publishing what he described as "the third hit piece from disgruntled staffers" that seek to ruin him.

"Per usual – lies, half-truths, innuendos, smears and anonymous," Fetterman said.

"No matter how many smears or stories, I'm proud to continue to deliver for Pennsylvania," he added.

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The politician then went on to respond to each of the damning text message screenshots The Journal published in their article.

Regarding messages in which he complained about having to meet with officials with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Fetterman said, "dumb joke, and for that, I sincerely apologize."

"My office and I always have, and always will, advocate for CHOP, support their requests and any other needs that we can assist with," he said.

For messages in which he skipped out on attending the funeral of three slain police officers, Fetterman insisted he "privately ordered flowers to be delivered for their families and expressed my condolences publicly."

In an instance in which claimed to be sick to get out of the funeral of three veterans, and instead appeared on Fox News later that day, Fetterman said he was "throwing up" earlier that day but eventually "felt well enough to continue the day as scheduled."

Fetterman, a former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, was elected to the Senate in 2022 after gaining popularity for his progressive policy stances.

But in recent months, he has gained the ire of Democratic voters and some of his colleagues, as he has gone out of his way to defend President Donald Trump and Republican policies while standing in defiance of his own party's efforts.

Fetterman's biggest issue is apparently his support for the State of Israel. He has vowed to leave the Democratic Party if it adopts what he considers an anti-Israel policy.