Prosecution Of Nassar Becomes Campaign Issue

whitmerschuette-2
whitmerschuette-2

The prosecution of disgraced former Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar is now an issue in the gubernatorial campaign. Attorney General and Republican nominee Bill Schuette brought charges against Nassar for sexually abusing hundreds of patients over two decades, and says Democratic nominee Gretchen Whitmer should have charged him while she was the interim Ingham County prosecutor.

“We brought charges, made the decision,” said Schuette. “She chose not to. I think that was wrong.”

Whitmer was the interim Ingham County prosecutor when Schuette filed charges in two counties, and says because his office was handling it with Michigan State University police and it involved Eaton County as well, it was technically his case and she was right to stand aside after serving search warrants and obtaining some of the initial evidence.

“Bill Schuette and his supporters have attacked me with vicious lies, and I’m done taking the abuse,” Whitmer said Friday in Lansing.

Some survivors like Grace French are livid at the attorney general for using Nassar in his campaign ads and holding press conferences about an issue that’s been decided.

“The fact that not only is his name coming up every single day, but his face is coming up in commercials, and that’s not okay,” said French.

Republicans will, however, remove Judge Rosemarie Aquilina from ads that go after Whitmer for not prosecuting the monster doctor. Aquilina says the GOP didn’t ask her permission to use her likeness from footage of Nassar’s Ingham County sentencing hearing and could have cropped her name off the video. The judge also asked Whitmer to move a press conference out of her courtroom. Aquilina says the fact the Nassar case is a campaign issue is “sad” and “appalling.”