Gretchen Whitmer’s unexpected Oval Office invite highlights balancing act with Trump
CNN
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited the White House on Wednesday with a bipartisan delegation to discuss a laundry list of issues affecting her state, including a recent ice storm, funding for an Air National Guard Base and tariffs.
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited the White House on Wednesday with a bipartisan delegation to discuss a laundry list of issues affecting her state, including a recent ice storm, funding for an Air National Guard Base and tariffs. She left with a new problem: Donald Trump’s praise. The president caught Whitmer off-guard during remarks in the Oval Office, as she stood in the back of the room while he briefly lauded her. “We’re honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, great state of Michigan, and she’s been, she’s really done an excellent job, very good person,” Trump said. Whitmer was “surprised” she was brought into the Oval Office “without any notice of the subject matter” while Trump signed executive orders in front of the press, according to a spokesperson for the governor. The White House encounter, four years after Trump lashed out and called her “the woman in Michigan,” comes as Whitmer attempts to walk a fine line between the demands of being a swing state leader and a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
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National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
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The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
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Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.