Michigan governor: have not spoken with Biden about being his running mate

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said on Tuesday she had not had any conversation with presumed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden about being his running mate in the 2020 election.

Whitmer, speaking in a Washington Post online interview, said she also had not supplied any documents to Biden or his team, though she added she does speak regularly with him. "We've not had that conversation," Whitmer said, adding she was not focused on politics now.

Whitmer, who has traded jabs with President Donald Trump, a Republican, about Michigan's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, is widely seen as a potential running mate for Biden and is co-chair of his campaign. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, in a subsequent interview, criticized Trump for tweets that he said had inflamed emotions and opened up the possibility of a spread of COVID-19 by protesters who have gathered in several states around the country.

On Friday, Trump tweeted: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" along with similar tweets naming Minnesota and Virginia, other states with other Democratic governors. Residents in several states who want their economies reopened have protested against what they describe as overly restrictive stay-at-home orders. "I'm very disappointed with the rhetoric and messaging coming from the president," Pritzker said of Trump's tweets. "He's fomenting protest."

"I'm very concerned about what that might mean for the country if he keeps doing things like that," added Pritzker, a Democrat who has been critical of the Trump administration's handling of the outbreak. "I know what he's trying to do. It's a political maneuver in the middle of a national emergency. He should stop it. It could lead to violence," he said.