Former Democratic rep hits Whitmer for 'cringey' photo in the Oval Office

Former Democratic Rep Susan Wild called Democratic Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer's decision to hide her face in a photo at the White House cringey during an appearance Sunday on CNN's State of the Union I apologize ahead of time to the Democrats at the table because I don t mean it aimed at you but one thing that seemed to symbolize kind of the weird place that Democrats are in and it is this photograph of governor Gretchen Whitmer standing in the White House CNN host Jake Tapper began speaking to his panel It s a picture of Gretchen Whitmer hiding her face Whitmer was seen temporarily shielding her face from cameras in the Oval Office by holding up a folder according to a photo by the New York Times She later lowered the folder as the president spoke to the press and encouraged Whitmer to comment as well Tapper required Wild what was going on with her party during the discussion about the photo That begs the question of what she was doing there anyway Wild revealed explaining that Whitmer was there to talk to the president about issues pertinent to her state So you know what I would have done if that was me I would have disclosed I m not going in there or when the press came in or the cameras came in I would have been out of there It's cringey TRUMP PRAISES DEM GOV GRETCHEN WHITMER AFTER SLAMMING HER LAST YEAR 'VERY GOOD PERSON' The American automakers are happy about these tariffs So I understand why she went But that was the ultimate cringey move right there That was right out of 'Veep ' Wild added President Donald Trump praised Whitmer after their meeting at the White House and stated she had done a good job According to a comment from a spokesperson for Whitmer the governor and president discussed the northern Michigan ice storm investing in Michigan s defense assets like Selfridge Air National Guard Base tariffs and the importance of creating good-paying American jobs and bringing back critical supply chains and keeping our Great Lakes clean and safe We're honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan great state of Michigan And she's been she's really done an excellent job And a very good person Trump explained during the press conference on Wednesday Whitmer is widely seen as a future presidential candidate given she's the two-term governor of a swing state Whitmer described reporters afterward that she thought she was coming into the Oval Office for a one-on-one meeting with the president and was surprised by the press conference CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREWhitmer was lambasted by Democrats after joining Trump in the Oval Office and suggested she was used as a political prop Just a f---ing mishap reported one Democratic operative who usually supports Whitmer but spoke anonymously to NBC News It feels like it removes particular of the momentum she had as a politically savvy swing-state Dem CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere called the moment a huge embarrassment on Thursday while CNN host Audie Cornish stated bluntly This does not look like the politics of resistance Dovere also insinuated that the situation was set up by the Trump gang saying She Gov Whitmer went for this meeting with the president and he used her as a prop Fox News' Danielle Wallace and Madison Colombo contributed to this summary