North Michigan News

The Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's response to a foiled plot to kidnap her a "missed opportunity" to not only have a unified message but to thank the law enforcement officers who stopped the plan before it was executed.

Rep. Lee Chatfield (R-Levering) said Whitmer's statements were "very disappointing" while speaking with the host on WJR's "The Frank Beckmann Show" earlier this week. He said she missed her chance to show unity and share a joint message denouncing domestic terrorism and white nationalism.

"Rather the response that we saw from the governor and the lieutenant governor I found inflammatory," Chatfield told Beckmann on the radio show. "Because they not only blamed the president of the United States, the lieutenant governor blamed the Michigan Republican Party and Gov. Whitmer blamed the leadership in the State House."

Rep. Lee Chatfield | Michigan House Republicans

Chatfield also questioned the administration's decision not to notify police inside the State Capitol of the plot to storm the Capitol and take lawmakers hostage. 

"I found that somewhat disturbing," Chatfield told Beckmann. "I wanted to know why. I wanted to know why we were not made aware of the plot to take our lives."

He said at a time when there's so much division, this could have been a unifying moment, instead of a political one.

"We can all stand together. We can all denounce this. We can have a unifying message. This should be something where there should not be finger pointing or assigning blame, certainly in terms of partisanship, and I was pretty disappointed to see this administration do it," Chatfield said on the radio program.

Chatfield also believed Whitmer missed an opportunity to thank law enforcement and the two Trump-appointed U.S. District Attorneys, Andrew Birge and Matthew Schneider, who intercepted the plot before anything could be carried out.