In her forthcoming memoir, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer writes that she would like to meet some of the right-wing extremists who pleaded guilty in a plot to kidnap her, the Guardian reports.
Whitmer writes about the plot in True Gretch: What I’ve Learned About Life, Leadership, and Everything in Between, which is slated for publication next week by Simon & Schuster. The press says the Democratic politician’s book is “an unconventionally honest, personal, and funny account of her remarkable life and career.”
Whitmer was a state senator and county prosecutor before being elected governor of Michigan in 2018. Considered a rising star in Democratic politics, her name is one of a few bandied about by political observers as a possible replacement for Joe Biden after the president’s debate performance caused panic among Democrats last week.
In October of 2020, law enforcement officials arrested 14 men in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap Whitmer as part of a scheme to overthrow the Michigan government; some were tried in federal court and some in state court. Four of the men pleaded guilty, five others were convicted, and five were acquitted.
In her book, Whitmer writes, “I asked whether I could meet with one of the handful of plotters who’d pleaded guilty and taken responsibility for their actions, just to talk.…But I do look forward to being able to sit and talk, face-to-face. To ask the questions and really hear the answers. And hopefully to take some small step toward understanding.”
Whitmer writes that the proposed conversations have not yet happened, but that Michigan’s attorney general, Democrat Dana Nessel, told her that it was a possibility.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
