Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer borrowed a private jet to travel to Florida during COVID-19 lockdown

A spokesman for the Michigan Governor confirmed that Whitmer did indeed travel to Florida to visit her father all while insisting that residents of Michigan stay home due to lockdown orders.

It has also been reported that she asked a wealthy Detroit businessman to lend her a private plane instead of booking her own charter.

“We wondered why she reached out to us instead of booking a private charter,” one of the owners of the plane said. “You can’t tell a governor no. Who needs that kind of trouble?” the billionaire responded when asked about Whitmer’s wishes. 

If Whitmer had chartered her own private jet the costs would have totaled about $40,000, about a quarter of her gross salary. The governor’s office insists that taxpayer money was not involved in her travel, however, it is still unclear whether she has reimbursed the Detroit billionaire. 

“I’ve said everything I’m going to say about my trip to check on my father,” Whitmer reported to WWTV. “I’ve got nothing to add. We don’t discuss my travel. I have received an incredible number of death threats over the last year and a half. There are a lot of reasons we don’t discuss how I travel and when I travel.” 

Two weeks after she returned from her trip to West Palm Beach, she once again advised Michigan residents to stay home.

“Michigan and Florida are not next to each other,” she said. “But this is the time of the year that snowbirds come home from Florida, where people are going on spring break, and all of these things can contribute to spread. We’re imploring people to take this seriously, mask up, get tested. If you’ve been around someone who’s positive, stay home” Whitmer mentioned on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Executive director of the Michigan GOP Jason Roe was refused details of Whitmer’s trip due to “ongoing security concerns.”

“Governor Whitmer lied about her trip to Florida and is compounding her lies by refusing to disclose the cost of the private plane she used, if she paid for her personal trip, and what the fair market value of that payment was,” said Roe.