MR. KANE: All right. Glad to see you are in your requisite hoodie. Thank you for joining us. I will start--

SEN. FETTERMAN: Well, usually, I don't see you in a suit. You seem to like more casual when I see you. So I'm not sure who you're trying to impress. It can't be me.

MR. KANE: [Laughs] That is true. Maybe it--I guess it's my girlfriend.

Let's start with yesterday, sort of two events yesterday that were of importance to this campaign. One was there was a lunch yesterday with Senate Democrats and the top Biden advisors, both from the campaign and the West Wing, and then also, we had the press conference last night that President Biden did following the end of NATO. What did you hear yesterday, both from Biden's team and then from the president himself? Where do you feel like--what is the message that you're getting from those folks, and was his performance last night the right measure to sort of stem some of this criticism?

SEN. FETTERMAN: No, nothing has--nothing was changed. You know, my support, my opinion for Joe Biden as a president and as the candidate--and whether that was the lunch or the press conference, I thought that went--I thought that went well. And it's kind of strange the way the media seems to seize on the, you know, misspeaking about whether "Vice President Trump" or whatever, it's like being--it's really strange. I mean, honestly, things can happen to anybody, but it's very clear that Joe Biden knows what time is and the things--I mean, I think he did a nice job on that, and I really do fundamentally believe that Joe Biden is the right guy for this cycle. And I didn't see anything that changed a single thing about it.

MR. KANE: What do you hear from presidential advisors in terms of that some of your colleagues seem to be worried about the path and not necessarily national polling but sort of state-by- polling? What did they tell you, either at lunch yesterday or in other calls and, you know, messages that you get from them?

SEN. FETTERMAN: I can't speak for any other of my colleagues, and I'm not a leaker, but I know there are other of my colleagues have chosen to be one. But all I can do is what I've said. I conveyed to my colleagues that I'm very committed for Joe Biden. I'm a very enthusiastic supporter, and that he deserves our support, and that I am going to continue to do that and stand with the president. So that's really--that was what I let my colleagues understand.

And I've listened to others that have different kinds of views and even ones that even called for the president, he should step down and all that. So that's really what happened.

And the campaign presented, I thought, a very cogent argument, that if you really can't forget that the polls haven't cratered the way that some people might claim, and one thing--another thing I pointed out was if debates are meaningful or that can determine things, then I said that--I said that I had the worst debate in American political history. And I said if debates were meaningful, I wouldn't be standing in this room talking to all of you and call you my colleague, and that's a fact. And if debates really mattered, then Hillary Clinton would have been a two-term president because she mopped the floor with Trump, and we know how that happened. Or after Obama with Romney, Obama was trounced in a debate, and of course, we know how that worked out, even when you go back to Kerry. Debates are not the end all in a presidential election. I'm trying to remind people that as well too.

And if we can learn anything from Republicans is that when the shit hits the fan, they choose to be supportive and surround, you know, and we tend to panic or do in unproductive kinds of directions.

MR. KANE: Can you walk us through your relationship with Joe Biden? You know, I grew up on the other side of Pennsylvania, outside Philly, and I still pay attention to Pennsylvania a lot. I wrote--I visited the 2016 Senate primary, and I remember Joe Biden was an enthusiastic backer of one of your opponents, Katie McGinty. He has been--he has always sort of presented himself in the more sort of moderate establishment wing. In 2022, some of his allies--

SEN. FETTERMAN: I wonder--I wonder what Katie's doing. I'm not sure. So I hope she's well.

MR. KANE: But--and some of his own supporters seemed to be backing your opponent, Conor Lamb, back in 2022. How did you--how did you become close--

SEN. FETTERMAN: Oh, I wonder how he's doing. I haven't--I haven't heard much from him either.

MR. KANE: He is a--

SEN. FETTERMAN: I hope he's well.

MR. KANE: I think he's in the Specter law firm, last I saw.

So--but how did you--how did you get this relationship with Joe Biden? Was it--did he reach out at these critical times in your life? Is that sort of what--how you got to be this close to him?

SEN. FETTERMAN: Well, my support or my belief isn't contingent on if somebody gives me a check or an endorsement or anything. I follow what I happen to believe, whether that was like, for example, with Israel--or I think Joe Biden was a great president. And the reason why I got in that race in 2016 was I didn't think that--Ms. McGinty wasn't going to be able to win, and so my support of Joe Biden wouldn't be a favor if he did--he chose to support me in any kind of a race, or I would not support Joe Biden because if he may have endorsed somebody different in a race against me. It's like, who's a great president? Who's the right person to win and put down Trump for the second and final time? I know that's Joe Biden, and to me, it's a very easy choice for me throughout all of this. And that's where I'm going to remain, regardless of anyone else in my caucus choose to find different kinds of conclusion. But I really stand by my own conclusion that I--he is the right guy to meet the moment.

MR. KANE: Sure. I believe Peter Welch is one of your closer friends in the Senate. You're both part of that 2022--

SEN. FETTERMAN: I love--I love Peter, seriously. I'd give him a big hug if he just walked in right now, but we just happen to disagree on these issues.

We also happen to disagree on the situation on Israel, and I feel--

MR. KANE: Mm-hmm.

SEN. FETTERMAN: I'd like to be like a mature Democrat, that you can--you know, you still have strong affection or support, just because we don't happen to agree on every single thing, and that's also part of the thing I never understand. Just like one of your colleagues at the New York Post now, they just put videos of Arab Americans in Michigan saying that there's no way under any circumstances, I'm going to vote for Joe Biden. I don't understand that. I truly don't, because if you help and you elect Trump, you're definitely not going to be happy with the next Muslim ban or the kinds of other terrible things Joe Biden would bring to your state and to your community. I don't understand that just because that's that one definitive reason why you can't support a great president. That's their right, of course. But that doesn't mean I can understand that.

MR. KANE: Okay. Some of your colleagues--I think we are now up to 20 House Democrats and then Senator Welch in terms of calling for him, for Biden to step aside, and most of their fear is that Biden cannot win the election, they say. And, you know, the memo that the campaign sent out yesterday seemed to indicate that Pennsylvania--

SEN. FETTERMAN: Can you help me? Calculator.

How many Democrats are in Congress? Is it like 246? 246, let's say that, maybe. Okay. And how many Democrats have said that our president has to go?

MR. KANE: It is 21 at the moment, 18 publicly.

SEN. FETTERMAN: Twenty-one. So 21 divided by 246. So it seems that--that seems that more than 90 percent of Democrats in Congress support our president. That should be the headline, you know, like to me. I'm getting a little Mike Pence going on here, although I don't have any hair. But I don't understand why that's not the headline, that more than 90 percent of Democrats in Congress support the president instead of some randos chose that he needs to go. And they're valid. That's--they're entitled to their opinion.

But it's still pretty stark that after all of that thermonuclear beatdown from The New York Times and others, that still well over 90 percent of our colleagues stand with the president.

MR. KANE: Let's talk about Pennsylvania specifically. You know, you have run a couple statewide general elections there, you know, run a couple different statewide primaries. What is his path? What is Biden's path to victory there? Can he sort of rebuild that same coalition that he had in 2020?

SEN. FETTERMAN: I do believe that, and I am--thank you. I'm grateful for the opportunity that my experience on ground in Pennsylvania is just much different than if you're life in the bubble or anything like that.

Everywhere I go in Pennsylvania, people are thanking me and saying thank you for defending the president. I'm crazy. I just canceled The New York Times and--or I don't understand why people are turning on a great president, not literally, not one. Not one person approached me and said, you know, "We got to get rid of our president. We have to find somebody," not one.

And other people--a member of my team who knows and understands Pennsylvania's political situation more than anyone in the world, and he's affirmed the same thing. He said in all of the circles and all across Pennsylvania, it's, you know, universal that we love Joe Biden. And that's the union workers. And that's the rank-and-file kinds of voters across Pennsylvania.

You know, Joe Biden is going to carry Pennsylvania, and I do think he's going to carry Wisconsin. The Michigan is going to be close, and that's in part because what I referenced, that there's a part of the community that refuses to support a president who just because over what he's chosen to do in Gaza. So that's, I think, where we're at, and so that's in terms of what that path is. I fundamentally believe that he is going to be able to win.

And I wouldn't be telling you that right now if I didn't believe that, nor would I be writing your paper or any other saying Joe Biden should go. And I could keep my head down, or I wouldn't be part of this conversation. But I fundamentally believe this, and that's why I've been chosen to be very vocal and to be front and center about that Joe Biden is the right guy in that situation.

MR. KANE: Okay. We have a question from the audience. They registered in advance and could submit some questions. Michael Tavlin of Nebraska asks, what is plan B? What if Biden's performance was not a one-off? And let's assume that the president himself, of his own volition, decides he wants to bow out. Is Vice President Harris the right person to take up that mantle?

SEN. FETTERMAN: It's not--I don't know what it is. But if it is--if it is Vice President Harris, she's a great vice president. And God forbid, actually should have, could have happened, you know, that--you know, for example, like me, they could have had a stroke or something. Who knows? That's why Joe Biden was wise to choose her, and she's been great. And she's capable to step in on that.

So I don't think right now that I'm not--we're not here where it's like, what's our plan B? It's like right now, Joe Biden is our guy. He won the primary, and anyone had the opportunity to challenge Joe Biden in the primary, if they were the person that could beat Trump or have those kinds of--be the choice of the Democratic Party.

And unless Joe Biden says, "Hey, I'm out," or God forbid, he has some kind of a medical kinds of crisis, I should think we should all assume that Joe Biden is our guy, and that's going to be the name on the on the ballot.

MR. KANE: Okay. I'm looking ahead to Chicago next month, the Democratic National Convention there. This is a story that sort of has faded. You referenced it. Do you worry about the young protesters? And, you know, there's been a lot of disruptions of Gaza protesters at events for Biden and Harris, other Democrats. Do you worry that that will happen in Chicago and possibly in the convention hall?

SEN. FETTERMAN: I mean, anything's possible. I mean, I've had protesters show up my house or show up in my office, and that's really something that they choose to do. But I don't think that's going to be something that's going to change the overall there.

Of course, I do think Joe Biden is going to be confirmed to be our guy, and I just think--I mean, it's not that it's not that long. And I think we should all just get to--get to the fact that those people may not agree with me that that's really--that's going to--I think that's what's going to happen. And it's very clear that there's a concerted and organized kinds of campaign to dislodge Joe Biden, and I don't--I don't understand that. And there's so many people that seem to be so invested in that, you know, first professionally and their reputation, it's like where it seems like you're almost becoming like you're rooting against Joe Biden, or it's some kind of dead poll or I don't--I really don't get it.

And how much longer can you bang on Joe Biden without damaging and continue to diminish, you know, his chance to win? At some point, do you just say, okay, how many weeks, and what's in it for you? One week? Two weeks? Three weeks? Are you going to do this? Are you going to ride his back until the convention? Or what's it going to take? What point do you have to? I get it; you don't want them. You don't want them as the choice. But it's just--it's crazy. It's like, how long can you ride a great president that, you know, won? He actually won.

MR. KANE: Has it surprised you that, especially in the House, some of the most staunch defenders of President Biden have been the so-called "Squad," Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, people who are very much on the opposite side of you, when it comes to the Gaza War and Biden's handling of it. Yet in this moment, they've stepped up to have, quote, "We have his back."

SEN. FETTERMAN: Eureka, eureka. You know, you can have Democrats that disagree on certain issues, but we can all agree that this is the right guy for the moment on that. That the point I was making earlier.

I don't have--I mean, I disagree--I disagree with Joe Biden on issues. You know, I disagree with that whole floating pier in Gaza. I'm like, that's not going work, and that's not really appropriate. But that doesn't change, you know, my support here. And you referenced earlier in terms of who supported, that doesn't matter to me. It's just what I happen to believe to be true.

MR. KANE: Can you tell us about your visit to Israel and meeting with Netanyahu? What was that like?

SEN. FETTERMAN: Yeah. Well, I had the opportunity to meet every--everyone in the leadership across the entire spectrum as well. It was an incredible visit, and my visit was different than other people that might visit. I really wanted to have conversations with soldiers and with students and leaders and other experts on terrorism and the financing of that. And, you know--and I really--one of the things I learned as a member of the Banking Committee, that that some people assumed, including myself, that it was crypto, that's what was financed, and they're like, no, that's not true. You know, crypto was at the bottom of an inverted pyramid of that. Actually, where that was really financed was the charitable organizations that were fronts for the kinds of funds that they send that to Hamas into dollars that allowed them to create the kinds of weapons and to maintain their tunnel system that they were both critical for the attack on October 7th.

MR. KANE: Tell us about the, I mean, the more sort of moderate, centrist, left-wing views over there in Israel. I think we focus--in the American media, we focus a lot just on Netanyahu. You know, what are their views in that more center, center left worldview of what they want to see happen anytime soon?

SEN. FETTERMAN: I mean, it's just like--for example, and Netanyahu is visiting next week, right?

MR. KANE: Yeah.

SEN. FETTERMAN: And I'm hoping that people decide not to boycott him or that we don't make it about themselves or I have to tell the world why I'm not coming or whatever and instead of just listen to what he has to say. He's the democratic leader of our key ally throughout that. I don't have to agree with him on everything, or I don't have to agree on every issue with my own president here. But I think, you know, he deserves to have our attention and to listen to what he has to say on that. And I would like to see that Hamas becomes effectively neutralized, where it cannot be functional, and they are not able to be a part of--and another is the fact that Gaza must be rebuilt. That's a fact. And that's going to require billions and billions of dollars. And as long as Hamas has any kind of control, that it would be an opportunity to replenish their treasury for weapons and tunnels and all kinds of a thing, and we can't ever allow that to happen. And also, front and center, we have to make sure that the hostages are able to come back home.

Now, we can never forget that over a hundred innocent people have been held in a tunnel or in--elsewhere, and they must be--come home. And why aren't people talking about that anymore? I don't understand why so many--few people continue to talk about it. But everybody, it's front and center in Israel, from when you're getting off the airplane, all the way till you get to your hotel. It's like it's their front and center.

MR. KANE: Okay. Do you worry about some of those--some of the more far left House members and whether they'll do the sort of disruptive things that the far right-wing Republicans did during Biden's State of the Union address?

SEN. FETTERMAN: I think that first taboo was broken when that moron yelled, "Obama, you're a liar," or some kind of a thing. Like, can't we have civility there? You know, like, it's like but once--once you ring that bell--and then, of course, nobody could have foreseen the--you know, like all the kinds of others and then. But obviously, if they insist on doing those kinds of a thing--but it only--it diminishes a very important conversation that you don't actually have to agree on everything. But I don't know why people would choose to respond that way.

MR. KANE: Okay. Another question from the audience. This is from JD Luckner of Texas. Project '25, this is the conservative movement, far right movement is sort of putting together what they want to do for a Trump presidency. Is that message breaking through right now in liberal circles? What does it mean to you, Project '25?

SEN. FETTERMAN: Yeah, I honestly think that Project '25 literally is the quiet part that nobody wants to be said aloud, and now it is. And some--they actually put it--they put it in writing, and you can actually see that kinds of stuff.

Think about some of the weird, twisted, and extreme stuff that Trump embraces that kind of stuff. But he ran--he ran against it. They disavowed that. You know, he treated like he's Dracula and that was garlic or a crucifix, you know, and so think about how crazy it must be for him to run away for that. So--but what's true is that that is the quiet--the quiet part of the Republican Party. That's their agenda for if they're able to win.

I mean, and we can only blame ourselves. We can only blame us, Democrats and the American people, if they choose to give him a second and potentially a third term that. And that's why that conversation, Joe should or should not be, needs to end. It's Joe's guy. And at some point, I'd have to ask anyone that's part of that movement to dislodge him. It's like, how many weeks of attacking a great president? How much is into it? How much does it become more about it's personal for you as opposed to, you know, how much kind of damage do you want to inflict on Joe Biden, knowing that he's going to be the guy on the ballot in November?

MR. KANE: My last question then is about your majority leader, Senator Schumer, is--what has he been doing to try to corral all of you into that point where you can start making Project 2025 the central talking point? Has he been doing much to sort of herd the cattle, herd the sheep?

SEN. FETTERMAN: Well, it must be difficult to be the leader, whether it's in the Senate or in the House, a lot of that. So I know he's got a lot of different things going on, on that. So I guess it's maybe easier to be in his first-term senator like myself.

But I've just chosen to be front and center on those kinds of issues, whether it was like Israel or the border and now on Joe Biden. That's why I'm having this conversation right now, and there are times when that might work against my politics of my party or people. But I think it's more important that people understand what I happen to believe to be true throughout all that. So I just really hope--I truly, truly hope--it's like, how many more weeks can that concerted effort to dislodge Joe Biden--how much damage do you want to inflict on a president that has held every line as the only person in this country that kicked Trump's ass in an election? I don't understand. It's appropriate to have a conversation after that debate, but at some point, when does a conversation just become a vendetta?

MR. KANE: All right. Well, listen, Senator, thank you very, very much for your time.

Thanks to all of you for watching. For more of these important conversations, sign up for a Washington Post subscription. You’ll get a free trial by visiting WashingtonPost.com/live. I’m Paul Kane. Thanks again, and come back again and watch. We’ll have plenty more events.

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