- John Fetterman defended Lauren Boebert's family following her son's arrest.
- Pennsylvania Sen. Fetterman was applauded for speaking out.
Democratic Sen. John Fetterman condemned the "recreational cruelty" shown toward Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert's family after her son was arrested Tuesday.
"This is a family in crisis, and the recreational cruelty I see on social media needs to be out of bounds," the Pennsylvania Democrat wrote on X.
"I know the impact this has on children. I'm calling for restraint because cruelty has substantial collateral damage. We can't ever forget that they didn't sign up for this," he wrote.
Fetterman, who has publicly struggled with mental health concerns of his own, was applauded on social media from both sides of the political spectrum.
"Another W for John Fetterman," wrote commentator and attorney A.G. Hamilton.
"Amen to this," Democratic political strategist Mo Elleithee said.
Boebert did not publicly respond to Fetterman's statement.
Fetterman's comments come after news broke Wednesday that 18-year-old Tyler Jay Boebert had been charged in connection with five felonies and over a dozen misdemeanor and petty offenses. Colorado police said in a statement that the charges were related to a "string of vehicle trespasses and property thefts."
"I love my son Tyler, who has been through some very difficult, public challenges for a young man and the subject of attention that he didn't ask for," Boebert said in a statement shared with HuffPost Wednesday.
She added that her son should nonetheless "be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen."
An unlikely alliance
Fetterman and Boebert have traded barbs in the past.
In September last year, Fetterman slammed Boebert after she was ushered out of a showing of "Beetlejuice" for behaving inappropriately with a male companion.
"I figure if I take up vaping and grabbing the hog during a live musical, they'll make me a folk hero," Fetterman tweeted at the time. Boebert has been equally critical of Fetterman in the past.
In May, she attacked Fetterman over his choice of attire during a Senate press conference.
"John Fetterman redefined Casual Friday on a Thursday morning," she wrote on X, then Twitter. "It's truly unbecoming for someone to show up like that to any job."