Crains Detroit. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer suggested Friday that a growing rift with the White House is affecting shipments of medical supplies to Michigan amid exponential growth in confirmed coronavirus cases.

"When the federal government told us that we needed to go it ourselves, we started procuring every item we could get our hands on," Whitmer said Friday on WWJ 950AM. "What I've gotten back is that vendors with whom we had contracts are now being told not to send stuff here to Michigan. It's really concerning."

Whitmer didn't say who has told vendors to stop sending medical supplies to the state, but strongly implied the order came from President Donald Trump's administration.

In a Friday afternoon appearance on CNN, Whitmer did not back away from her earlier claim.

We've entered into a number of contracts and as we are getting closer to the date when shipments are supposed to come in, they're getting canceled or they're getting delayed," Whitmer said. "We've been told they're going first to the federal government."

The governor's office could not provide any additional information Friday afternoon substantiating Whitmer's allegation.

Whitmer told WWJ that she reached out to the White House on Thursday night, asking "for a phone call with the president, ironically at the same time that all of this other stuff was going on."

Trump called into Sean Hannity's Fox News program Thursday night and bashed Whitmer's handling of the coronavirus public health crisis that has claimed the lives of 92 Michigan residents as of Friday.

"Your governor of Michigan, I mean, she's not stepping up," Trump said, who referred to Whitmer as "a woman governor" and not by her name. "I don't know if she knows what's going on, but all she does is sit there and blame the federal government. She doesn't get it done. And we send her a lot."

During a Friday evening press conference, Trump said he's instructed Vice President Mike Pence, "don't call the woman in Michigan."

"If they don't treat you right, I don't call," Trump said of Whitmer. "(Pence) is a different type of person. He'll call quietly anyway."

Whitmer has made public pleas for days that the federal government has been slow to send medical supplies from its national strategic stockpile.

On Monday, Whitmer said one unnamed hospital received a shipment last weekend from the federal government of 747 N95 protective masks, 204 gowns, 40,467 gloves and 64 face shields.

"With the exception of the gloves, that allotment of PPE didn't cover one shift," Whitmer said Thursday.

Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown confirmed Friday to Crain's that the state needs 400,000 N95 protective medical masks each day for the next several weeks to keep up with demand.

Whitmer did not specify in the radio interview Friday which vendors or specific medical equipment is being blocked by federal authorities from being sent to Michigan.

"The fact of the matter remains, we need help and at the very least we don't need people standing in our way from getting," Whitmer told WWJ. "We're working incredibly hard. But these are serious times."

Crain's sought clarity from Whitmer's office midday Friday and the names of vendors under contract that the governor referenced. Whitmer's spokeswoman had no additional information.

U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Dryden Township, said members of Michigan's congressional delegation asked regional officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a Thursday conference call if vendor shipments were being redirected to FEMA. The FEMA Region 5 officials told congressional members there were no vendor shipments being diverted from Michigan and that "they would reach out (to suppliers) and try to solve the uncertainty," Mitchell said.

Mitchell called Whitmer's claim of federal diversion of medical supplies "not productive."

Whitmer, a Democrat, said she's not trying to engage in a political feud with the Republican president.

"For the doctors and nurses who are wearing one mask for the whole shift, who are worried about their own personal health but are still treating the sick and the fragile, it's crucial that everyone does their part," she said. "That includes individuals staying homes, it includes businesses that can help manufacture this (personal protection equipment) that there's too little of and it includes the federal government who we need partnership from."

Crains Detroit.March 27, 2020

Voices4America Post Script. Trump confessed: "If they don't treat you right, I don't call," Trump says of governors, boasting he told Pence not to call the governors of Washington and Michigan. Above is @GovWhitmer on this. Share it! Share this! Trump thinks he should decide who should live or not, based on who flatters and plays a sycophant to this narcissistic imbecile.#Flattery4Ventilators #Unfit4POTUS#RememberInNovemember"

Here is some following up from Twitter.

Trump's Behavior has a name. #QuidProQuo #WhoLivesWhoDies

Some even call it # Genocide... and yes, against his own people.