Michigan AG Says Trump Going Maskless Could Be Issue

President Trump's Thursday visit to a Michigan manufacturing plant didn't just draw headlines—it could draw trouble for Ford. Dana Nessel told CNN late Thursday the company could face consequences for allowing Trump to skip wearing a mask during a visit to a Ford plant that now produces ventilators, as such an action would be in defiance of state orders and Ford policy. "I think that we're going to have to have a very serious conversation with Ford in the event that they permitted the president to be in publicly enclosed places in violation of the order," she said. The Democrat had some harsh words for Trump specifically, likening him to "a petulant child who refuses to follow the rules."

Nessel, who wrote to the president about masks before the visit, said Trump was sending "the worst possible message" by refusing to wear a mask in front of journalists, reports the Washington Post. Trump—who said he wore a mask at times but didn't want to give the press the "pleasure" of seeing him in one—fired back on Twitter. "The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan, Dana Nessel, is viciously threatening Ford Motor Company for the fact that I inspected a Ventilator plant without a mask. Not their fault, & I did put on a mask," he tweeted Thursday night. "No wonder many auto companies left Michigan, until I came along," he added. Nessel became AG in 2019; the state had a Republican governor and attorney general for the previous eight years. (More Michigan stories.)