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

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Governor Whitmer, thanks so much for joining us.

I want to start with these protesters who entered the Michigan capitol building on Thursday. We all understand people out there are feeling the economic pain right now, but what did you make of the protesters with firearms inside the state capitol?

I know some Democratic lawmakers expressed concern and fear even.

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): Yes.

Well, we know that people are not all happy about having to take the stay-home pass. And you know what? I'm not either.

But the fact of the matter is, we have to listen to the epidemiologists and our public health experts. And displays like the one that we saw at our capital is not representative of who we are in Michigan.

There were swastikas and Confederate Flags and nooses and people with assault rifles. And that's the very -- that's a small group of people, when you think about the fact that this is a state of almost 10 million people, the vast majority of whom are doing the right thing. And that's why we have seen our curve get pushed down.

We have saved lives in the process. And we have to keep listening to the epidemiologists and experts, and not listen to the partisan rhetoric or these political rallies, or tweets, for that matter. We have to keep doing the right thing, the next right thing.

TAPPER: These protests came after President Trump tweeted "Liberate Michigan." He tweeted -- quote -- "The governor of Michigan should give a little, put out the fire."

He said that these are very good people about the protesters that were featured in the video, to which the executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Halie Soifer, who's from Lansing, Michigan, she compared those comments to President Trump referring to those marching alongside neo-Nazis in Charlottesville as very fine people.

Is that how you see these protesters, in that vein, in that extreme?

WHITMER: Well, some of the outrageousness of what happened at our capitol this week depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country.

The Confederate Flags, and nooses, the swastikas, the behavior that you have seen in all of the clips is not representative of who we are in Michigan.

And the fact of the matter is, I mean, we're in a global pandemic. This isn't something we just negotiate ourselves out of and it's a political matter. This is a public health crisis that has taken the lives of over -- of almost 70,000 Americans, has put 30 million people into unemployment.

We have lost in the last 24 hours almost the same number of Americans that were killed on 9/11. And that's just in the last 24 hours. We need to listen to the expertise and our institutions of higher learning and our health system, and make decisions that are going to protect the lives of everyone.

Whether you agree with me or not, I'm working to protect your life if you live in the state of Michigan. I'm going to continue to do my job, regardless of what tweets come out or what polls come out or what people think that is -- makes sense.

We're going to listen to facts and science, because we have got to get this right.

TAPPER: White House senior adviser Jared Kushner told "The Washington Post" yesterday -- quote -- "We figured out how to get all of the states enough complete testing kits to do the testing that they have requested. We can get to a really big number in May. The biggest thing holding us back is not supplies or capacity. It's the states' ability to collect more samples" -- unquote.

[09:25:03]

Is that true? In Michigan, the biggest problem is the state's ability to collect samples?

WHITMER: That's not true in Michigan.

I'm -- I can't speak for all the other states, but I have heard a lot of my fellow governors on the same calls that we have been on with the federal government. And I know that many of us are still looking to get swabs and reagents and additional test kits.

And so we have never been able to get to full capacity because we are missing things in the supply chain. And that's part of why I think so many of us on both sides of the aisle have really called on more of a national strategy on these fronts.

I think that, in Michigan, we -- across the country, we should be doing 1 to 2 percent of our population a week. We are far short of that. And part -- the supply chain is one of those factors.

TAPPER: I want to turn now to former Vice President Joe Biden, who denied on Friday an allegation made by a former Senate staffer of his, Tara Reade, who says that he sexually assaulted her in the early '90s.

You have said that you believe Vice President Biden.

I want to compare that to 2018, when you said you believed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford after she accused now Justice Brett Kavanaugh of assault. Kavanaugh also, like Biden, categorically denied that accusation.

And Blasey Ford, to be honest, she did not have the contemporaneous accounts of her view of what happened that Tara Reade does.

You have spoken movingly about how you're a survivor -- survivor of assault yourself. Why do you believe Biden, and not Kavanaugh? Are they not both entitled to the same presumption of innocence, regardless of their political views?

WHITMER: You know, Jake, as a survivor and as a feminist, I will say this. We need to give people an opportunity to tell their story.

But then we have a duty to vet it. And just because you're a survivor doesn't mean that every claim is equal. It means we give them the ability to make their case, and the other side as well, and then to make a judgment that is informed.

I have read a lot about this current allegation. I know Joe Biden, and I have watched his defense. And there's not a pattern that goes into this. And I think that, for these reasons, I'm very comfortable that Joe Biden is who he says he is.

He's -- and you know what? And that's all I'm going to say about it.

I really resent the fact that, every time a case comes up, all of us survivors have to weigh in. It is reopening wounds. And it is -- take us at our word, ask us for our opinion, and let's move on.

TAPPER: Well, just for the record, the reason I'm asking you is because you're the only Democrat on the show today, not because you're a survivor, and not because you're a woman.

But thank you so much for your time. I want to...

WHITMER: Yes.

No, and it's not a criticism of you, Jake. It's not a criticism of you. You're doing your job, and I appreciate that.

I'm just sharing, I think, some of the simmering anger that we survivors have every time that we have got to confront this from someone else's behavior that we weren't a party to, that we weren't even a part of the reality in the moment.

What I think is this. We owe it to every woman who has a story to listen to that story, and then to vet that story, ask the questions and be critical thinkers, and then make a judgment, based on all of those pieces.

I have done that in this instance.

And I will tell you this. I don't believe that it's consistent with the Joe Biden that I know. And I do believe Joe, and I support Joe Biden.

TAPPER: All right, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, thank you so much for your time.

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