Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer traveled to Florida recently to visit her ill father, despite her coronavirus guidance against out-of-state travel.
Tiffany Brown, the governor’s communications director, admitted this week that the Democrat governor visited the Sunshine State more than a month ago “to assist her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
Whitmer’s father “was fully vaccinated, and the governor is tested regularly and has never tested positive for COVID,” Brown said in an effort to justify the duplicitous double-standard.
She added that the trip did not take place during spring break, and that it was not taxpayer-funded.
Brown refused to say when exactly the trip took place, citing “security concerns.”
Whitmer’s Florida trip violated the April 5 advisory ordered by Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, warning Michiganders not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.
“We recommend that you do not travel at this time,” the department said. “Delay travel and stay home to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.”
The report about Whitmer’s trip follows two other stories about members of Whitmer’s administration traveling out of state—including Elizabeth Hertel, the director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Tricia Foster, the governor’s chief executive officer.
Whitmer has insisted that she did not ban out-of-state travel, and she previously claimed that the criticism of her and her aides was politically motivated.
“I’m not going to get distracted by partisan hit jobs on my team. There have never been travel restrictions in Michigan. There just haven’t been,” Whitmer said at a press conference last week.
“What directors do on their personal time is their business, so long as they are safe, which is what we’re asking everyone in this state do to: Get vaccinated, mask up.”
WATCH: Flashback to @GovWhitmer announcing and defending travel restrictions last year.
Today, Whitmer falsely claimed Michigan never had travel restrictions. #migov pic.twitter.com/Bg1LZTGnmW
— Michigan Rising Action (@MIRisingAction) April 14, 2021
