Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tore into President Trump on Friday over his response to a foiled plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), accusing him of stoking tensions across the country.
Biden said the plot by a militia group to kidnap Whitmer, which the FBI foiled earlier this month, is “the sort of behavior you might expect from ISIS [that] should shock the conscience of every American.”
“But all President Trump does is fan the flames of hatred and division of this country,” he said at a rally in Southfield, Mich.
Biden, at another campaign event later that day in Detroit, also noted that Trump continued attacking Whitmer on the day the plot was revealed, with the president taking shots at the governor’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying she did a “terrible job” and “locked down her state for everyone.”
“What the hell is wrong with this guy?” Biden asked.
The FBI says Whitmer was targeted by a militia group that planned to kidnap her and hold her hostage before the November election, with reports saying the plotters had ties to the anti-government “boogaloo” movement.
Eight people have been charged in connection with plot thus far.
Whitmer first responded to the news of the kidnapping attempt by noting instances when Trump’s declined to disavow white supremacy, saying, “Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action,” and suggesting the president was “complicit,” sparking a harsh rebuke.