Gov. Whitmer condemns 'Squad' member's 'antisemitic' attack against Michigan's Jewish AG: 'Hateful rhetoric'

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer dodges questions about Dana Nessel, Rashida Tlaib feud

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined to take a side in a CNN interview when asked about accusations from Rep. Rashida Tlaib against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

After facing backlash for refusing to defend her state's attorney general against a suggestion of religious bias, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement Monday condemning Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., for the "antisemitic" allegation.

"The suggestion that Attorney General Nessel would make charging decisions based on her religion as opposed to the rule of law is antisemitic," Whitmer wrote in a statement shared by CNN host Jake Tapper. "Attorney General Nessel has always conducted her work with integrity and followed the rule of law. We must all use our platform and voices to call out hateful rhetoric and racist tropes."

Whitmer's statement comes one day after she refused to take a side in the feud between the state's Attorney General Dana Nessel and Tlaib, who accused Nessel of bringing charges against anti-Israel campus protesters at the University of Michigan because she is Jewish.

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Nessel, Michigan's first Jewish attorney general, charged nine university students for refusing to leave the anti-Israel encampments in May after police ordered them to vacate, the Detroit Metro Times reported. They are being charged with trespassing and resisting or obstructing a police officer, according to the outlet. Two additional people were charged with attempted ethnic intimidation and malicious destruction of personal property at a separate anti-Israel protest.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., poses for selfies with demonstrators with anti-Israel protesters outside her office. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Tlaib, a ‘Squad’ member and vocal critic of Israel, suggested that the charges from Nessel were "shameful" and religiously motivated, telling the Detroit Metro Times in an interview, "it seems that the Attorney General decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs."

Nessel responded on X, "Rashida Tlaib should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.'"

In an interview on CNN’s "State of the Union" Sunday, Tapper asked Whitmer whether she agrees with Nessel, a Democrat, that Tlaib's accusation about her charging anti-Israel campus demonstrators because of her personal religious bias was rooted in antisemitism. 

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"Do you think Attorney General Nessel is not doing her job? Because Congresswoman Tlaib is suggesting that she shouldn’t be prosecuting these individuals that Nessel says broke the law, and that she’s only doing it because she’s Jewish, and the protesters are not," Tapper asked. "That’s quite an accusation. Do you think it’s true?"

U.S. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks at a campaign rally held by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., designed to get Michigan State University students, faculty and staff out to the polls on October 16, 2022, in East Lansing, Michigan.  (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

"I’m not going to get in the middle of this argument that they’re having," Whitmer replied. "I can just say this: We do want to make sure that students are safe on our campuses, and we recognize that every person has the right to make their statement about how they feel about an issue, a right to speak out. And I’m going to use every lever of mine to ensure that both are true."

Her hesitation to defend Nessel caught the attention of Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who scolded the governor for failing to support her attorney general.

"@GovWhitmer, when your attorney general prosecutes people for violating the law, harassing Jews, and attacking police officers, it’s in the interest of public safety. When a congresswoman accuses the attorney general of prosecuting protesters simply because she’s Jewish, it’s bias," he wrote on X.

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"Saying you want to ‘make sure that students are safe on our campuses’ is just words if you are not willing to use your bully pulpit to speak out unequivocally on antisemitism and support holding people accountable for violating the law when it affects Jews," he said.