Trump comments on Senate candidate accused of sexual assault

President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday that former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner was “in a bind” but added that the seriousness of the situation hinged on whether “you believe the woman” after Platner faced an accusation of sexual assault.

The president made the comments Wednesday evening as he gaggled with reporters on Air Force One as he returned to the U.S. from Ankara, Turkey, where he attended the Nato summit this week.

Trump was asked by reporters if Platner should be made to withdraw from the race after a woman he previously dated told Politico that the Maine Senate candidate entered her home uninvited and forced himself upon her. Platner, in a video message, denied the woman’s claims, calling them “troubling and false.”

“It’s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman,” Trump told reporters, hours before Platner formally dropped out. “A lot of people say big falsehoods. It’s-- he’s in a bind.”

“Should they be able to [force him out]? Well, I guess he’s going to lose,” the president added. “It’s very interesting, when a Republican woman came out with the same charge, nobody believed her. When this woman came out, everybody believed her.”

Platner faced a pair of new allegations this week. The first, on Monday, sent shockwaves through his campaign and support base. Prominent Democrats of all stripes, including those who’d previously endorsed his candidacy, called for him to step down, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, his most powerful political ally, and other progressives like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

The second came in the form of an article from The Washington Post, in which an ex-girlfriend accused him of sometimes removing contraception without her knowledge during sex.

The campaign told the Post that the woman’s accusation is “categorically false and politically motivated.”

The same woman had previously accused Platner of threatening physical conduct, claims he “strongly disputes.”

Platner’s team held an all-hands call on Wednesday, according to multiple news outlets. Those around the candidate reportedly urged him to withdraw, but a back-and-forth between senior members of his campaign and the Maine Democratic Party over how the new Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate will be selected caused delays for nearly two full days.

The controversy has reignited arguments between the party’s progressive and centrist wings, which have traded accusations of poor vetting and bad candidate recruitment efforts in the hours since Platner’s campaign began to implode. His victory was a clear win for the party’s left flank due to his opposition to funding for Israel’s military and support for Medicare for All. His primary win last month saw the resounding defeat of Janet Mills, the incumbent governor who ran a comparatively unenergetic campaign and effectively dropped out of the race after trailing in the polls for several months.

Maine’s Senate seat is a crucial pickup for Democrats as they seek the majority in the upper chamber this year. The party needs to net four seats in November to take the majority, and the seat held by Sen. Susan Collins is seen as one of the toughest seats for Republicans to defend this cycle.

Platner’s potential successors have already begun jumping into the race, even before the candidate himself formally stepped down. Former Maine Senate president Troy Jackson has already begun building a campaign operation, and he’s expected to be joined in the fight for the seat by Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban, state Rep. Valli Geiger, and former state public health director Nirav Shah.

The delays over his withdrawal caused serious frustrations among Maine Democrats earlier in the week, and they voted on Wednesday to hold a formal nominating convention to pick Platner’s replacement.

Leaders of the state party sharply criticized staff of the Platner campaign on Tuesday, while facing their own criticism over whether his replacement would reflect the sentiments of voters, a majority of whom backed Platner in the June primary. At the center of the dispute between the campaign and the state party is the refusal of state party officials to allow Platner campaign staff to be involved in the nominating process.

At the same time, both the Platner campaign and the DSCC, the campaign arm of the Senate Democratic caucus, are denying trying to directly influence the selection, with the campaign claiming their outreach to the state party was merely about “trying to understand the process” by which he’d be replaced.

By Wednesday evening, the state party had offered an olive branch, likely driven in part by a serious backlash to its statement from the night prior.

“There is an unprecedented amount of energy and enthusiasm among Maine Democrats, driven in part by the many dedicated volunteers and supporters who were inspired by Graham Platner’s campaign,” officials said in a statement. “We look forward to coming together and harnessing that energy around our new nominee as we work to defeat Susan Collins in November.”