Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has lifted her own restrictions on social distancing at restaurants after she was caught over the weekend violating the rule that had limited restaurant seating to parties of six or less.
What are the details?
On Saturday, Breitbart released a photo showing Whitmer and her chief operations officer sitting with a dozen or so people at an East Lansing bar in clear violation of the restrictions the governor set in place for all Michiganders.
As TheBlaze previously reported, Whitmer had just updated her own COVID guidance a week prior to violating the order, prohibiting intermingling by groups of people and dictating that no more than six individuals may sit at the same table in restaurants.
After the photo of Whitmer went viral, the governor issued an apology for ignoring her own rules, saying in a statement released Sunday:
“Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been committed to following public health protocols. Yesterday, I went with friends to a local restaurant. As more people arrived, the tables were pushed together. Because we were all vaccinated, we didn’t stop to think about it. In retrospect, I should have thought about it. I am human. I made a mistake, and I apologize.”
Then, on Monday, the governor lifted the rule, but suggested she had already been considering getting rid of it prior to the bad press.
WWMT-TV reporter Rachel Louise Just tweeted:
“Today, Whitmer rescinded the rules that limited the number of people at a table to 6, a rule she was seen breaking over the weekend. I asked about how long she’s been considering that rule change – she said it’s been in the works long before last weekend.”
Today, Whitmer rescinded the rules that limited the number of people at a table to 6, a rule she was seen breaking… https://t.co/MSgyuG4Ulm
— Rachel Louise Just (@Rachel Louise Just)1621875644.0
Anything else?
Since the emergence of the coronavirus in the U.S., Whitmer earned a reputation for being among the most heavy-handed governors in the nation when it came to imposing restrictions on citizens and businesses.
But even before the bar photo the Democrat had been accused multiple times of hypocrisy in flouting her own COVID-19 guidance.
Just last month, it emerged that the governor took a private jet to Florida on a personal trip to see her ailing father — despite blaming travel to Florida for high rates of infection in Michigan at the time.
She also broke her own executive order when she violated social distancing rules while attending a George Floyd march.
In May of 2020, Whitmer’s husband allegedly tried to use her position as governor to gain preferential treatment to get his boat in the water at their vacation home, after the governor warned folks not to travel to the area due to the pandemic.
