Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ventured to Florida recently to visit her ill father despite coronavirus guidance against travel in the state.
Tiffany Brown, the governor’s communications director, said on Monday that Whitmer visited her father more than a month ago but within the past six months.
She insisted the travel did not happen on spring break and said the governor went “to assist her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
Whitmer’s father “was fully vaccinated and the governor is tested regularly and has never tested positive for COVID,” Brown said, adding that the travel was not at the expense of taxpayers.
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Brown would not tell the outlet where or when precisely the trip took place, citing “ongoing security concerns.” Whitmer’s office also acknowledged that Whitmer left the state two other times in the past six months to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration and visit Michigan’s National Guard troops sent to the U.S. Capitol after the Jan. 6 riot.
“All trips were very brief, two full days or less,” Brown said, adding that her boss “closely followed public health guidelines.”
On April 5, Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services issued an advisory warning residents that travel could increase the risk of spread of COVID-19.
“We recommend that you do not travel at this time,” the department said. “Delay travel and stay home to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
Others in Whitmer’s administration have also traveled out of state, including Elizabeth Hertel, the director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Tricia Foster, her chief executive officer.
“I’m not going to get distracted by partisan hit jobs on my team. There have never been travel restrictions in Michigan. There just haven’t been,” Whitmer said at a Wednesday press conference. “What directors do on their personal time is their business, so long as they are safe, which is what we’re asking everyone in this state do to: Get vaccinated, mask up.”
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“Gretchen Whitmer’s blatant display of hypocrisy is an insult to every single Michigander impacted by her lockdown orders and travel warnings,” Ted Goodman, communications director of the Michigan Republican Party, said in a statement on Monday. “Not only did Whitmer and her top staffers vacation to Florida, but they tried to keep it a secret because for Whitmer, it’s — rules for thee, but not for me.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Whitmer’s office for further comment but did not immediately hear back.
