Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on Wednesday criticized trolls targeting Lauren Boebert after the MAGA congresswoman’s son was arrested for an alleged crime spree in Colorado.
Tyler Boebert, 18, is facing 22 charges relating to a string of thefts and vehicle trespasses in his mom’s district. “This is a family in crisis and the recreational cruelty I see on social media needs to be out of bounds,” Fetterman wrote in an X post replying to a news story about the young Boebert’s legal troubles.
“I know the impact this has on children,” Fetterman continued. “I’m calling for restraint because cruelty has substantial collateral damage. We can’t ever forget that they didn’t sign up for this.”
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Tyler and three underage alleged accomplices were arrested over the break-ins and thefts, according to an incident summary, which lists a total of six victims between the ages of 3 and 64.
The lawmaker’s son—who is also the father of her grandchild—is facing charges including “four felony counts of criminal possession of ID documents,” one count of “conspiracy to commit a felony,” and “three counts of theft of under $300,” according to the Rifle Police Department in Colorado.
“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,” Lauren Boebert said in a statement Wednesday, adding that he should nevertheless “be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen.”
Fetterman’s sympathetic take on the situation stands in stark contrast to his more mocking approach to Boebert’s previous misfortunes. In September, after she was kicked out of a theater for her behavior during a production of Beetlejuice, Fetterman jokingly referenced the incident in a tweet hitting back at Fox News coverage critical of his informal attire. “I figure if I take up vaping and grabbing the hog during a live musical, they’ll make me a folk hero,” he wrote.
Boebert has similarly had no problem publicly attacking Fetterman in the past—including for his penchant for casual clothing on Capitol Hill. “It’s truly unbecoming for someone to show up like that to any job, let alone a job that only 100 people are elected to do,” she tweeted last May. “There’s just no excuse for it.”
