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Whitmer Admits Husband Asked Boating Company For Special Treatment, Claims He Was Joking

   DailyWire.com
Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, smiles during an event at the General Motors Co. Orion Assembly plant in Orion Township, Michigan, U.S., on Friday, March 22, 2019. General Motors Co. committed to investing $1.8 billion at plants in six states and to creating 700 new jobs, as the largest U.S. automaker looks to ward off months of criticism by President Donald Trump.
Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer admitted on Tuesday that her husband, Marc Mallory, asked a boating company for special treatment because he was married to her, which comes after Whitmer’s office called the allegation a “rumor” yesterday and suggested that it could be “misinformation.”

The controversy surrounded a report that her husband called a boating company and asked them to put their boat on the water before Memorial Day weekend and, when told it wouldn’t be done by then, asked for special treatment because he was “the husband to the governor.” Adding to the controversy was the fact that Whitmer urged people to not go to that area if they did not live there, and while she and her husband own a second home there, it’s an approximately 200-mile drive from their main residence, the governor’s mansion, in Lansing. She later claimed that he drove across the state to rake leaves at the second home and then came home.

Whitmer addressed the controversy during a press conference saying, “I do feel compelled to address the most recent one about my husband Marc. My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with a small business that helps with our boat and dock up north.”

“Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, he jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the queue,” Whitmer continued. “Obviously, with the motorized boating prohibition in our early days of COVID-19, he thought it might get a laugh. It didn’t and to be honest I wasn’t laughing either when it was relayed to me because I knew how it would be perceived. He regrets it, I wish it wouldn’t have happened and that’s really all we have to say about it.”

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The incident came after Whitmer urged people during a press conference last Monday to not travel to region six and region eight if they did not live there [emphasis added]:

Now, this is a big step and it’s right before the holiday weekend. We know Memorial Day weekend is coming up a week from now. And so I want to encourage everyone to stay smart and to stay safe, keep your wits about you. Let’s not all go rushing out and force a closure eventually. What we want to do is keep moving forward. And so everyone needs to be a part of this and to do your part. So if you’re in Northern Michigan or the Upper Peninsula and you want to go out to eat with your family, just make sure you do everything in your power to protect yourself from the virus. That means wearing the mask, unless you are about to take part in your meal. It means washing your hands and staying six feet away from others.

And if you don’t live in these regions, region six and region eight, please think long and hard before you take a trip into them. We’re still seeing positive cases of COVID-19 across the state of Michigan. We still have COVID-19 present in the vast majority of our counties. And we’re still losing family members and loved ones to this virus

The Detroit News reported that Whitmer’s office responded to the controversy by saying that they do not discuss personal matters related to the governor or her family.

“And we’re not going to make it a practice of addressing every rumor that is spread online,” a Whitmer spokesperson said. “There’s been a lot of wild misinformation spreading online attacking the governor and her family, and the threats of violence against her personally are downright dangerous.”

Later during the press conference, a reporter asked Whitmer: “When you opened regions six and eight, you advised people to not rush up there and overwhelm the area. Just moments ago, you mentioned that your family has been staying home for the past several weeks but there were some reports that you did spend time up north. Are those reports true?”

“So, as you know, a few weeks ago we dropped the travel bans, so that if people had a second residence, it was permitted to go to a second residence,” Whitmer responded. “My husband did go up to our place in [inaudible] county and rake some leaves and came home. So he was there. We did not all pile in the car to go enjoy our second home, although that would have been permitted if we had. But the fact of the matter is, he was there, briefly, for a night, one or two nights and came right back home after he raked our leaves.”

WATCH:

RELATED: Emails Show Democrat Gretchen Whitmer’s Office Gave ‘Green Light’ To Give Taxpayer Money To Democrat Groups For Contact Tracing, Report Says

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