CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Interview
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All right, Jim Acosta, thank you very much.
Let's get some more on all of this right now. The Michigan governor is joining us, Gretchen Whitmer. Governor, I know you're incredibly busy, but thank you so much for joining us, spending a few moments with us.
The president is now using his powers as president under what's called the Defense Production Act to direct General Motors to begin producing ventilators. General Motors largely in your beautiful state. Will those ventilators get to hospitals in Michigan and elsewhere soon enough to save lives?
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Well, we certainly hope so. You know, General Motors is a quintessential American company that has contributed to building the middle class in our country, helped make Michigan and the United States the arsenal of Democracy to win World War II.
The leadership at General Motors is top notch, and I think that they are going to rise to this challenge. It won't happen overnight, though. Switching over from building cars to building something as complicated as a ventilator is going to take a while, and we don't have a lot of time to waste. And that's why I'm glad to see this action.
I would love to see more of this, more of the strategic powers of the president to be used nationally. We need a national strategy. This patchwork of laws based on who the governors are really isn't the best strategy going forward. And I think we all need to lock arms and not fight one another but fight COVID-19.
BLITZER: Well, that's an important point you're making, Governor. The president, as you well know, he personally attacked you on Fox News last night, he said he was having, in his words, a big problem with that young woman governor, and he referred to that young woman governor being from Michigan. So far, he's refused to act on your request for a major disaster declaration. Are your political differences, you're a Democrat, he's a Republican, preventing you from getting the badly needed assistance that will help a lot of people in Michigan?
WHITMER: Well, I can tell you this, Michigan, like states across the country, Republican and Democratic-led, we're struggling to get the PPE that we need. We're struggling to make sure that our nurses and doctors on the frontline have the N95 masks that are so precious. We've gotten a few of our shipments out of the strategic -- the national stockpile. But the fact of the matter is the latest one had zero of these masks, and that's what is so crucial right now.
I'm not going to fight with anybody. I'm going to fight for the people of Michigan, fight to make sure we've got what we need to combat COVID-19. It is spreading so quickly in our state. Up 801 cases today, 32 more people passed away in the last 24 hours. We need help. We need leadership. And we need to put political differences aside and focus on the real enemy, and that's the virus.
BLITZER: I know you haven't heard anything directly from the president, but have you heard anything from the White House, from other officials there, about your request?
WHITMER: Well, I know that they've received it. And I have talked to the Vice President Mike Pence, a number of times and I'm grateful for that opportunity. We have been working diligently with Army Corps of Engineers, making sure that we're working with FEMA, they have a seat in our state emergency operations center. We're just doing everything we can to pull out all of the stops. And I know Mike DeWine in Ohio and governors across this country are doing the same. We need to make sure that we have got the materials we need to protect people.
BLITZER: I know you told a local Michigan radio station this morning that medical supply vendors are being told, in your words, not to send stuff to Michigan, not to send stuff to Michigan. What did you mean by that? [17:15:12]
WHITMER: Well, we've entered into a number of contracts. And as we are getting closer to the date when shipments are supposed to come in, they're getting cancelled or they're getting delayed. And we've been told that they're going first to the federal government.
And I know Michigan is not alone. I saw Governor Charlie Baker, Republican from Massachusetts, say essentially the same thing. Same with Mayor Garcetti in Los Angeles. This is an issue that we are confronting as a nation, where we're bidding against one another, where we're struggling to grab every PPE that we can get our hands on. This is part of why I'm hopeful that in addition to the Defense Production Act, our production act that we have -- adopt a national strategy and really focus on ramping up especially where we see the growth so fast, like in Detroit and Oakland County and Wayne County here in Michigan.
BLITZER: Governor, good luck to you and good luck to everybody in Michigan. I know these are going to be difficult days. It's about to get even more difficult. We appreciate you joining us.
WHITMER: Thank you.
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