Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) says she regrets trying to hide from photographers during a visit to the Oval Office last week, calling the awkward moment a lapse in judgment.
Speaking Monday at the Detroit Economic Club, the Democratic governor addressed the viral photo that showed her holding up two blue folders in front of her face as photographers entered the room on April 9, where she was waiting to meet with President Donald Trump.
“What was going through your mind at that moment?” the Detroit Economic Club moderator asked Whitmer.
“You asked me what was going on in my mind at that moment,” Whitmer said when asked about the incident. “It was, ‘I don’t want my picture taken’ — that’s all it was.”
“I kinda wish I hadn’t put my folder up in front of my face,” she admitted, adding with a shrug, “but whatever.”
Whitmer, 53, has been rumored as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination but was roundly mocked over the awkward moment.
Though originally scheduled for a private meeting with Trump, Whitmer ended up among a group in the Oval Office as the former president signed executive orders, including one authorizing the Justice Department to investigate two of his first-term critics.
“She’s really done an excellent job,” Trump said praising her. “Very good person.”
However, the encounter was quickly overshadowed by the now-viral image of Whitmer shielding her face — a photo published by the New York Times on Saturday and widely mocked on social media.
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One user dubbed her blue folders the “folders of invisibility,” while political commentator Keith Olbermann quipped on X that the photo could represent the end of Whitmer’s career.
“It’s rare when you get a shot of the EXACT moment a politician’s career ends, but there you go.”
