Platner Ignored All His Team’s Advice in That Resignation Video

Graham Platner continued to deny his sexual assault allegations, lambasted “larger forces” against him, and demanded that the Maine Democratic Party allow him a say in his replacement upon announcing his withdrawal from the Senate race. The angry video went against everything his closest aides advised. 

“Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end,” Platner said in his 11-minute video, posted Wednesday evening on X. “This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot. That’s why this is occurring.... [The allegations] are being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us.... It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish. That if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed.” 

“They are going to take everything away from us. Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things we need to run a campaign,” Platner continued in his vertically shot video. “They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine.”  

His indignant rhetoric was also mirrored in his claims that national Democrats were trying to choose his successor behind “closed doors” and his insistence that they choose a fellow progressive. In reality, Maine’s Democratic Party is planning to hold a nominating convention with about 600 delegates later this month.

According to Politico, several of Graham’s closest advisers begged him not to take this approach with his resignation video, urging him to center “gratitude” and to to strike a “conciliatory” tone instead. But he refused to take their advice.

Platner was accused of sexual assault by Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who dated him on and off for two years, in a Politico article published on Monday. She alleged that the former Marine drunkenly entered her home uninvited five years ago and forced himself on her even as she asked him to stop. Platner continued to profusely deny these allegations in his resignation video. 

Blaming the larger political establishment for your rape allegation with an 11-minute long video does not seem particularly gracious. Now Maine’s Democratic Party has until July 27 to pick a candidate—and to try and clean up Platner’s long mess of a campaign.

FBI Director Kash Patel’s lavish spending spree and misuse of government planes has now attracted Republican ire.

Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Patel asking for information about his use of FBI jets and the bureau’s purchase of BMW cars, MS NOW reports.

“For each trip where you used an FBI aircraft for personal travel, have you reimbursed the FBI as required by law? If yes, please provide the records,” Grassley wrote in his letter.

Grassley wrote that while Patel is required to use FBI planes even for personal use, Congress needs the information to make an “independent and objective review.” The senator also asked Patel to explain “why you decided to purchase BMW vehicles instead of Chevy Suburbans.”

Grassley has defended Patel in the past against accusations that he misused government resources, telling the press in April that “I’ve never had an FBI director cooperate with me as much as Kash Patel has cooperated with me on my request for information, my request for documents. In fact, most FBI directors have been an impediment to my investigations.”

Now, though, Grassley is joining Democrats, such as Representative Jamie Raskin and Senator Dick Durbin, who wrote their own letter to Patel Wednesday saying that they “appreciate Chairman Grassley raising these concerns, which mirror those raised repeatedly by House and Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats.”

Raskin and Durbin’s letter raises concerns about Patel’s travel as FBI director, referring to an incident last year where the military allowed Patel to snorkel at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii around the wreckage of the USS Arizona, which sank during Japan’s attack on the base in 1941.

“Your VIP snorkeling experience in Hawaii was not an isolated incident,” wrote Raskin and Durbin. “You frequently demand special perks on ‘official’ trips around the globe, such as a taxpayer-funded helicopter tour during your multi-country jaunt across East Asia and other recreational activities like jet skiing.”

The letter added, “Your jet-setting and the lack of justification for these trips are ‘out of control,’ and the new attaché office you established in Wellington, New Zealand, may have been opened in part to justify a sightseeing trip you took there.”

Grassley’s words may mean that Patel will now face bipartisan scrutiny for his actions on the job. In the past, he’s had support from Republicans in Congress, not to mention President Trump. But with the midterm elections approaching, Grassley and others in the GOP could be gearing up for a stronger Democratic presence in Congress that demands more oversight of Trump’s appointments, especially those that like to party on the job.

Graham Platner’s exit strategy has apparently instilled a “#MeToo” mentality in the president. Or has it?

The Maine Democratic Senate candidate suspended his campaign Wednesday, days after more sexual abuse allegations emerged against him. The situation has pushed Maine into an unprecedented scenario, with questions swirling as to who the state’s Democratic Party intends to pick to replace Platner, in the hopes of unseating Republican Senator Susan Collins with just a few short months until the election. State Democrats have until July 27 to pick a new candidate.

Donald Trump was asked about the conundrum while traveling aboard Air Force One late Wednesday. At first, the president claimed that Platner’s future boils down to “whether or not you believe the woman,” not only misunderstanding that Platner had already left the race but also missing the painful irony of his suddenly supporting the “Believe Women” movement while he has used every tool available to him to shut down the voices of more than two dozen women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

But soon he was back to casting doubt on the allegations: “A lot of people say big falsehoods. He’s in a bind, he’s in a bind. But should they be able to do it?” he continued, referring to whether state Democrats should be able to pick a new candidate. “Well, I guess he’s going to lose. I imagine he’s gonna lose.”

“It’s very interesting, when a Republican woman came out with the same charge, nobody believed her,” Trump noted, referring to the first woman who explicitly charged Platner with sexual abuse: his conservative ex-girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield. In an interview with The New York Times last month, Fifield charged Platner with being aggressive with her body, using misogynistic language, and fantasizing about rape. In another interview with The Washington Post, published Tuesday, Fifield further accused Platner of removing condoms during sex without her knowledge or consent.

Major progressive figures tentatively stayed by Platner’s side despite Fifield’s allegations, in part due to suspicions about her political motivations as she had previously aided Republican campaigns. But the mood around Platner’s campaign changed suddenly when a second woman—Jenny Racicot—offered Politico explicit details about Platner’s violent propensities, including an incident in which he allegedly entered her house without permission and raped her during their on-and-off relationship.

“When this woman came out, everyone believed her,” Trump shrugged.

But even Trump couldn’t resist making an off-color remark about the situation.

“Did you get any pictures of her?” Trump asked a reporter, seemingly referring to Racicot. “You don’t wanna. They wouldn’t sell good.”

President Donald Trump doubled down on his threat to undermine U.S. allies if they won’t hand over Greenland.

While speaking to reporters on Not Air Force One, Trump was asked whether he planned to pull more U.S. troops out of Europe.

“I haven’t made that final determination. A lot is gonna depend on Greenland. A lot. I mean, we’re gonna make a very good deal on Greenland. And if we don’t, maybe I will,” Trump said.

Trump also suggested his next move depends on what happens with Iran, where the president has scrapped his own ceasefire deal to resume deadly military strikes.

“They want to help now, it’s a little late to the thing, because essentially there’s not that much fighting to be done,” Trump said of European allies.

“When they had a chance, an opportunity to help, they chose not to, so. But we’re sort of forgetting about that. And now they want to help, they all want to go in so badly.”

After months of silence on the subject, Trump kicked off the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday by making yet another wild threat to acquire Greenland. Public opinion in Greenland and Denmark toward the U.S. has plummeted amid Trump’s desperate bids to take over the territory, including bribing its residents.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw U.S. troops from Europe if they do not agree to spend more on NATO defense. “We could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe,” Trump said as he sat beside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday.

“It continues to be that [Greenland] should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” he added.

Maine’s embattled Democratic Senate nominee, Graham Platner, dropped out of the race on Wednesday after a former partner accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021.

“We believe for the movement to continue, it can’t be me and for that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said in a video posted to social media.

Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who dated Platner on and off for two years, told Politico on Monday that the former Marine drunkenly entered her home uninvited five years ago and forced himself on her even as she asked him to stop.

Platner initially denied Racicot’s allegations, and he maintained his innocence in his announcement. He called the accusations “all false” and blamed a “corporate media system and the political establishment [that] got to act as judge, jury, and executioner.”

Maine’s Democratic Party now has until July 27 to pick a candidate to appear on the ballot in November’s general election.

Calls for Platner’s exit had been brewing since Racicot’s announcement.

Platner’s insurgent progressive populist campaign had come close to derailing on multiple occasions. Last October, Platner had to apologize for commenting on Reddit that people concerned about sexual assault had to “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so fucked up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.” Around the same time, there was the controversy around his Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, which Platner said he and other Marines had done on leave in Croatia in 2007.

And less than two months ago, there was the warning his current wife gave to his Senate campaign about how he had sent sexually explicit texts to several women while they were married. Now, finally, Platner is recusing himself from this political moment. Hopefully, we’re all better off for it.