CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Gretchen Whitmer

Interview

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Joining us now, Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic governor of the great state of Michigan.

Governor Whitmer, thanks so much for joining us.

So, let me ask you. The CDC recommends that anyone who comes into contact with a confirmed positive person should isolate themselves for 14 days after potential exposure.

Obviously, Joe Biden was more than six feet away. But President Trump and the Trump team, they have behaved recklessly, and they did potentially expose Vice President Biden to the virus.

We don't know, in terms of how airborne it is, how far it can travel, theoretically. And Biden went to Michigan on Friday anyway. He tested negative. The virus can take several days to manifest.

Did you have any concerns about coming -- him coming to your state?

WHITMER: I didn't, because, you know what, we know that Joe Biden's been taking this virus seriously, has been following the science.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, has been misleading America, has been ridiculing mask-wearing, has downright undermined the efforts that governors like me and your earlier guest, Governor DeWine, have been trying to get people to mask up.

This virus doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care what side of the aisle you're on. It doesn't care what side of the state line you're on. It is still very present.

Joe Biden has been following the science and modeling the kind of behavior that we should all be emulating, because our lives are on the line.

And that's why -- that's why I'm so enthusiastic about Joe Biden as our next president, because he's got a plan to clean this up and fix this mess that the Trump virus response has gotten us into.

TAPPER: Well, you implemented some severe restrictions in your state to try to contain and control the spread of the virus. And you faced protests and mockery from President Trump.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny was in Michigan this past week. I want you to take a listen to what one voter told him about why this voter will not support President Trump in the fall.

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TOM ORLOWSKY, BIDEN VOTER: This is poorly -- been poorly handled. And a lot of it could have been eliminated.

I can't help but think that it's going to be, obviously, a big issue in this election, you -- people that know people that have died or been affected by it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, you faced those protests earlier in the year.

Do you think that view that we just heard from that voter in Troy, Michigan, is more prevalent now in Michigan than it was in March and April, when you were taking those severe steps and facing those protests?

WHITMER: I think our health is personal to every single one of us.

And when there's a White House who undermines our efforts to protect people, when they threaten to withhold resources for a state, the state that put them in the White House in the first place, people remember that.

[09:30:00]

This is a moment where we need leadership that is focused on protecting every American, whether they supported who's in the White House or not.

The American president should be protecting Americans. And that's where this administration has failed, and has failed spectacularly, 208,000 people dead, tens of millions out of work, small businesses that are shuttered.

This -- and we're still not out of the woods, not even close. We're seeing numbers rise in many parts of the country. So, this is -- this is real. And I think that sentiment is largely -- that was expressed is largely felt by a lot of people in this state, and in other states, too.

TAPPER: It's still -- it's still rough in Michigan, as I don't need to tell you. There were nearly 1,200 new coronavirus cases in your state yesterday.

If you look at the trend in your state, it's plateaued for months, and it's actually began to rise again.

Now, you took that aggressive action early on to try and contain the spread, but you have not been able to turn it around. The -- it's still going up.

Why has the spread gone down in Michigan? And do you think it's going to get even worse as we enter the winter?

WHITMER: Well, I'm very worried about it.

The Upper Peninsula is reporting numbers that were in excess of what we saw back in April and May and in the lower part of Michigan. This threat is still very real.

And the sad irony is that, on the day that the president was admitted to the hospital with the very virus he called a hoax, the Supreme Court in Michigan undermined my emergency rule, my emergency orders that I have had to enact that puts us in the same state as all other states in this nation to save lives.

We have saved thousands of lives. And the Supreme Court, on a slim majority Republican vote, undermined that effort. And so I remain very concerned.

And the thing that I know is that Michiganders have an opportunity to weigh in on our Supreme Court on this November 3 ballot. And I'm hoping they elect McCormack and Welch, because we have got to have justices who do the right thing and follow the rule of law.

TAPPER: Just a quick fact-check.

The president didn't call the virus a hoax. He called Democratic and media concerns about it a hoax. That also is false, but that's just the precise lie that he told. After months of holding...

WHITMER: I...

TAPPER: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

WHITMER: I was just going to say, I appreciate you clarifying that. I think that's an important clarification. He didn't call the virus a hoax.

But he called all of the concern...

TAPPER: Right.

WHITMER: ... all of the efforts, he undermined that, and ridiculed us, ridiculed the press.

And now we see that even he is susceptible to this. The most protected person the planet is susceptible, which means we all are.

TAPPER: It's fact-checking in the age of Trump: He didn't tell this lie. He told that lie.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Governor Whitmer, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

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