(WWJ) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she has spoken with President Donald Trump regarding his consideration of pardons for the men behind the 2020 kidnapping plot that threatened her life.
"I will just confirm that I have connected with the President directly on this subject and made my thoughts known," Whitmer said, speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Jon Hewett and other reporters during a visit to Detroit on Tuesday. "And beyond that I'm not gonna share more about our conversation, but hopefully he'll take some of those things into consideration when he makes a decision."
Whitmer was pressed a bit more by Hewett, who asked: "Were you concerned that he might not understand the breadth of this case and what was involved, or why did you want to speak with him, or what did you hope to convey...?"
To that, the governor responded: "It's important that in any case that has resulted in a jury convicting people, the impact on the victim is really important. As a former prosecutor, as the target of this particular plot, I wanted to make sure that the president that is going to make a decision has all the information necessary toward making the right decision."
Whitmer said she talked with Trump about this "in the past 24 hours."
Whitmer was in Detroit on Tuesday to take part in a ribbon-cutting celebration to celebrate a Michigan Main Street business alliance that will help the city's historic Livernois-West McNichols corridor.
A total of fourteen people were charged in connection with a plot to kidnap Whitmer in the summer of 2020 in the wake of unpopular COVID-19 restrictions. Four of those men were ultimately convicted of federal crimes, including two who pleaded guilty. (Five men were convicted in state courts, and would not be eligible for a presidential pardon).
Whitmer was not harmed.
At a swearing-in ceremony for U.S. Attorney in D.C. Jeanine Pirro a couple of weeks ago, President Trump said he did plan to "take a look" at the Whitmer kidnap plot case, which had been brought to his attention.
"I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I'll be honest with you," Trump said. "It looked to me like some people said some stupid things."