Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) (above) called on announced and unannounced primary challengers to President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign to stand down if they want to protect the country from another Trump administration, according to the Sioux City Journal. The freshman senator made his remarks at the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Liberty and Justice Celebration fundraiser in Altoona Saturday. 

“I’m here to tell you, you know, he is a strong, decent dude,” the freshman senator said of Biden. He called out both Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who announced his Democratic primary challenge days after Robert Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the party to run as an independent, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who he said is running a “shadow campaign” to challenge the president for the ’24 Democratic nomination.

“If you are a Democrat that wants to criticize and go after Joe Biden, our president, just go ahead and write a check for Trump.”

It capped a big week for Fetterman, who on Thursday proposed internal sanctions for any senator indicted for such offenses as mishandling classified information, being charged as a foreign agent or compromising national security in his “move” against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who faces multiple bribery charges, Politico reports.