Gov. Gretchen Whitmer addressed the State of Michigan after a plan to kidnap her and other Michigan government officials was thwarted by state and federal law enforcement agencies.
She started by saying thank you to law enforcement and FBI agents who participated in stopping this kidnapping attempt as well as Attorney General Dana Nessel who held a press conference earlier today announcing the charges against those who have been taken into custody. Whitmer went on to say that 2020 has been a hard year, but that Michiganders can move past it.
"We're Michiganders. We have grit. We have heart. And we are tough as hell. We made it through the great recession, we made it through auto bankruptcies, we made it through floods and polar vortexes, but none of us has faced a challenge like COVID-19. Not in our lifetimes," Whitmer said. "I've said it many times. We are not one another's enemy. This virus is our enemy and this enemy is relentless."
She went on to call for unity.
"It doesn't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat, young or old, rich or poor. It doesn't care if we're tired of it. It threatens us all. Our lives, our families, our jobs, our businesses, our economy, it preys on our elderly and medically vulnerable residents, and it has exposed deep inequities in our society," Whitmer said. "This should be a moment for national unity where we all pull together to meet this challenge head-on with the same might and muscle that put a man on the moon."
Watch the statement here:
This is a developing story.