Sen. John Fetterman’s new memoir reveals that tensions between him and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro reached a breaking point years ago when Fetterman was lieutenant governor, culminating in an explosive outburst caught on a hot mic during a virtual state board meeting, as reported by The New York Post.

According to Unfettered, Fetterman’s newly released book, the confrontation occurred during a Zoom hearing of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons in which Shapiro, then serving as the state’s attorney general, gave what Fetterman described as a “very long-winded and unnecessary” justification for voting against commuting the sentences of two inmates.

The case involved brothers Lee and Dennis Horton, who were convicted of second-degree murder following a 1993 robbery and fatal shooting.

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Fetterman, who supported clemency for the two men, became visibly frustrated after Shapiro cited concerns about missing trial transcripts to explain his opposition.

The memoir recounts that Fetterman muttered “f**king a**hole” into a live microphone following Shapiro’s remarks, an incident that quickly became known within Pennsylvania political circles.

In the book, Fetterman writes that the disagreement over the Horton brothers’ case marked a turning point in their relationship. He said that afterward, he confronted Shapiro privately and warned that he might run for governor in 2022 to challenge him.

“I told him there were two tracks — that one and the one in which he ran for governor and I ran for the Senate (which was the one I preferred),” Fetterman wrote.

“I had no interest in friction, only in what I felt was justice.”

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Fetterman claims that a Shapiro aide later reached out and asked him to retract his remarks and deny that their private meeting had taken place. “That wasn’t going to happen,” the senator said.

The Board of Pardons ultimately voted in December 2020 to commute the Horton brothers’ sentences. Fetterman later invited Dennis Horton to be his guest at President Trump’s 2023 State of the Union address.

Despite the resolution of the case, Fetterman said his relationship with Shapiro “never recovered.”

He wrote, “I sincerely wish him the best. He is a credit to the state and may one day be a credit to the country. I remember fondly the days when we were nobodies trying to climb the ladder. Even if we no longer speak.”

Fetterman wrote that he believed in granting second chances to those he supported for pardons. “[Shapiro] was far more cautious, and at a certain point, I began to think that what was influencing him was not mere caution but political ambition.”

The senator recalled that Shapiro voted against 12 of 15 parole cases during one meeting, an act that caused him to snap his reading glasses in anger.

Their strained relationship extended into later political cycles. During the 2024 campaign, Politico reported that Fetterman privately expressed doubts about Shapiro to then–Vice President Kamala Harris’s team as they discussed potential running mates.

Harris wrote in her own memoir, 107 Days, that she shared similar concerns, stating she “had a nagging concern that [Shapiro] would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership.”

Shapiro, now considered one of the Democratic Party’s most visible governors, is up for re-election next year and has been mentioned as a possible contender in the 2028 presidential race.

A spokesperson for Shapiro did not respond to a request for comment.

Fetterman’s Unfettered is now available nationwide.

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