Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the biggest enemy of the state is the misinformation coming from President Donald Trump.
In a press conference on Thursday, Whitmer said she has a "lot of emotions" after finding out Trump knew weeks before the coronavirus was confirmed to have reached the United States that the virus was dangerous and "deadly," according to audio files made by journalist Bob Woodward.
"I've seen our nursing home workers already going through PTSD because of all the stress and loss of people they care for and about," Whitmer said. "I've seen our grocery store workers pushed to the brink, not to mention all of the health care workers."
Whitmer said her personal opinion is that the Trump administration has been reckless and not particularly well-informed.
"It's a whole other thing to be reckless or ignorant than to be deceptive and to have American lives lost because of it," she said.
"I think the biggest enemy of the state right now is the misinformation coming from the head of state," she said. "The biggest threat to the people is the American president right now, and I do not relish saying that."
Trump reportedly told Woodward that he "always wanted to play it down," because he "didn't want to create a panic."
When asked during a Wednesday briefing if Trump ever "intentionally misled" Americans regarding the severity of COVID-19 White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied the claims, pointing to the fact that Trump said he wanted to "avoid chaos."
Whitmer said Trump's "failure to act" cost many lives and sent the state economy into a tailspin.
"It's just devastating to hear that when we've been working so hard to save lives."
