John Fetterman Opens Up About Phone Call to Erika Kirk, Rips Into Her Critics: ‘What’s Wrong With People?’

In the cutthroat world of hyperpartisan American politics, it’s rare to see much warmth emanate across the ideological aisles.

So many observers were somewhat surprised that after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner assassination attempt, reports surfaced that Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman had personally reached out and called Erika Kirk to make sure she was okay after the April incident.

(For the somehow unaware, Erika’s husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated by a shooter in September 2025.)

“The Charlie Kirk Show” executive producer Andrew Kolvet said that Fetterman was “pretty emotional” on the call with Erika, but didn’t offer too many other details.

And until now, little was publicly known about what was actually said during that call.

Fox News spoke to Fetterman about that call in a piece published Thursday, and the outspoken lawmaker offered a bit more insight into what happened.

“I expressed how sorry I am,” Fetterman said. “She was frantic, understandably, after her husband was assassinated.”

He added, “How triggering that must have been for her.”

Fetterman would go on to call the phone conversation a “very personal human interaction,” and said his “heart breaks” for Kirk after she had to live through more political violence less than a year following Charlie’s murder.

Fetterman’s more biting words were reserved for the people who saw fit to attack Kirk about her situation.

When asked about those online attacks against Kirk, Fetterman said, “It blows. People attack a widow. I mean what’s wrong with people? That’s bonkers.”

Fetterman also spoke to Fox News on myriad other topics, including the lawmaker’s support for President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, and even going so far as to suggest that China should help pressure Tehran, even if it hurts a bit economically.

“I think China should feel that pain,” Fetterman told the outlet. “I think that’s entirely appropriate. Why can’t China demand that?”

“Why not? Unless they want to create Iran as a nuclear power, and that would be incredibly dangerous for the whole world peace.”

Still, it was Fetterman’s comments about Erika Kirk — not Iran or China — that struck the most personal note during the interview.

In fact, when Kolvet was revealing the earliest details about the call, he was doing so alongside Glenn Beck. And the two men had nothing but praise for the Democrat, despite the lack of details at the time.

Beck d the video clip on X, which you can watch for yourself below:

.@AndrewKolvet tells me @JohnFetterman reached out to @MrsErikaKirk and apologized after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting:

“He was pretty emotional, and he just apologized for whatever he could. He didn’t need to… It was after everything happened. An emotional… pic.twitter.com/FP6Q1HSsPP

— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 28, 2026

Beck said he personally reached out to Fetterman to commend him for speaking up.

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