Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) admitted on Monday that she regretted trying to hide from photographers while in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump — particularly after a photo of her holding a folder in front of her face went viral.
The photo in question was taken by Eric Lee of The New York Times, and ran with an article detailing the difficult tightrope walk that Whitmer — and other Democrats who were attempting to work hand-in-hand with the Trump administration — had to manage as such cooperation often angered members of their own party.
Whitmer found herself in just such a situation when she traveled to the White House, where what she had expected to be a closed-door meeting with Trump – about funding for an Air National Guard Base and residents who had been devastated by recent storms — turned out to be a public Executive Order signing. Despite her attempts to stay out of the press — or at least the photos — the image of her literally trying to hide her face from the cameras quickly made the rounds.
Whitmer addressed the brouhaha at the Detroit Economic Club on Monday.
WATCH:
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at the Detroit Economic Club on her meeting with Trump in the Oval Office:
“I kinda wish I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face but, whatever.” pic.twitter.com/gENrL8jxZ5
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) April 14, 2025
“How was Washington? Did you —?” the moderator asked, and without a word, Whitmer held up a folder in front of her face. The audience laughed.
Noting that he had watched her speech that same day, the moderator said he felt like she had hit all the right notes. “Ships, chips, and cars,” he said, adding that the tone of the media coverage had shifted shortly thereafter.
“The next morning I woke up and there you are in the paper,” he punctuated that last statement by holding a paper in front of his face, prompting more laughs. “Beautiful picture of you.”
“Someone asked me, ‘What was going through your mind at that moment?’ and it was, ‘I don’t want my picture taken,’” Whitmer said, laughing off the viral image. “That’s all it was. I kind of wish I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face, but whatever. You know, I was there. I mean, I just wrote a book about learning to laugh at yourself, so I’m — I’m pretty good at it. And we all make, you know, we all have our moments.”
