President Donald Trump waded into the unfolding controversy surrounding Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine who abruptly exited the race following sexual assault allegations, offering remarks that appeared to cast doubt on the claims.
“It’s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday. “It’s, uh, he’s in a bind. He’s in a bind.”
Not long after Trump’s comments, Platner announced he would suspend his campaign. The decision came after a woman he had previously dated accused him of sexual assault, adding to earlier reports from others who described a pattern of troubling behavior.
“This is incredibly difficult because I know some will think it is an admission of guilt and it most certainly is not,” Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine veteran, said in a video posted on social media.
Trump, for his part, has faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, including from columnist E. Jean Carroll. In 2023, a jury found him liable for sexual abuse in that case, a finding he has consistently denied.
Platner’s sudden downfall was mirrored by an equally rapid rise. The 41-year-old he vaulted from political obscurity last summer after launching a long-shot bid to unseat five-term Senator Susan Collins, a Republican.
Casting himself as a progressive populist taking aim at an entrenched, out-of-touch establishment, Platner campaigned for universal healthcare, a higher minimum wage and an end to “forever wars.” The message resonated: last month, he cruised to a decisive victory in the Democratic primary, capturing 72 percent of the vote.
Yet as his candidacy gained momentum, a steady drip of controversy threatened to derail it. Questions lingered over social media posts that appeared to minimize sexual assault, the emergence of a tattoo he had that resembled a Nazi symbol and allegations from former partners describing troubling behavior.
The breaking point came earlier this week, when Jenny Racicot, a former girlfriend, accused Platner of sexual assault. In an interview with Politico, she alleged that, in 2023, he entered her home uninvited and forced himself on her while intoxicated.
“I just realized that, like, I am in a situation where there’s no consent here,” she told the outlet.
In a video released after the article was published, Platner called the accusations against him “troubling, serious and false,” adding, “Any accusation of non-consensual behavior is categorically false.”
But over the next several hours and days, pressure began to mount as a number of Democrats and allies urged him to step aside, including California Rep. Ro Khanna, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Maine Democratic Party.
On Wednesday evening, the political newcomer responded with an 11-minute video announcing that he would suspend his campaign, casting his collapse as the result of party elites intent on extinguishing the movement he inspired.
“We live in a political system that is not built for normal people,” Platner said in the video. “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.”
Trump himself is no stranger to allegations of sexual impropriety, though they have never derailed his political career.
In 2019, E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle columnist, accused Trump of assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied the allegation and said he had never met Carroll, prompting her to sue him for defamation. In 2023, a federal jury unanimously awarded her $5 million after finding him liable for sexual abuse and for defaming her in his denials. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal request last month.
Over the years, roughly two dozen other women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including at beauty pageants, on airplanes and during chance encounters.
Trump has repeatedly and emphatically denied the allegations, often dismissing them as a “hoax” or as politically motivated. He has never been formally charged with wrongdoing in any of them.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
