Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer opened up about what was going through her mind after a photo of her hiding her face in the Oval Office went viral.
Speaking at the Detroic Economic Club on Monday, Whitmer said the only reason she picked up the folders was that she didn’t want her picture taken. “That’s all it was,” she said.
“I kind of wish I hadn’t put my folder in front of my face but whatever,” she continued. “I just wrote a book about learning to laugh about yourself, so I’m pretty good at it. And we all have our moments.”
EPIC TROLL: Governor Whitmer, expecting a private meeting, was brought into the Oval Office as Trump signed EOs. She attempted to hide her face from the media.
— @amuse (@amuse) April 12, 2025
h/t @OcrazioCornPop pic.twitter.com/2cvRrawMJN
The Democrat governor was in Washington, D.C., last week for a speech and went to the White House afterwards to meet with the president.
“Public service is about putting the people of Michigan before my own interest,” Whitmer told The New York Times after the meeting. “My job was to try to get help for people who were suffering as a result of the ice storm, to land more investment at Selfridge Air Base, to protect the Great Lakes and to fight for the auto industry. And that’s what I was doing.”
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“I’m always going to show up for the people of Michigan, and that’s probably why I got elected by double digits,” she said.
What she was not expecting, however, was getting pulled into the Oval Office as Trump was answering questions from the press, resulting in numerous photos of her looking uncomfortable.
“The governor was surprised that she was brought into the Oval Office during President Trump’s press conference without any notice of the subject matter,” a spokesperson for the governor said. “Her presence is not an endorsement of the actions taken or statements made at that event.”
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