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Maine Senate candidate cites combat trauma when confronted on ‘terrible’ posts about sexual assault
Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner cited his combat deployments and struggling in the aftermath when confronted during an interview that aired Sunday about his past social media posts about sexual assault.
“I wonder, though, if you think how damaging this thing might be politically, because, I read those posts and, you know, they’re bad. Those posts are terrible,” CNN’s Manu Raju said.
Gov. Janet Mills, who is running against Platner in the Democratic Senate primary, launched an ad campaign against him that features women reacting to comments he made over a decade ago on Reddit about rape. The Mills campaign highlights Graham’s comments, as an actor in a voice that resembles the candidate, reads snippets of them aloud. Among the comments is one from 2013, which Platner later deleted, that people concerned about rape should not “get so f—ed up they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”
Platner said he regretted the posts when pressed by Raju.
“Oh, of course… Yes, deeply. But, I was at a time in my life where I was really struggling after I’d come back from my combat deployments,” Platner told Raju. “I was very isolated, very alone, very disillusioned, very angry. And I think like a lot of people, I went on the internet to find some form of community or serotonin boost.”
He added he was able to reconnect with his community and said he wouldn’t have got to this point without the struggles in his past.
“After many years of kind of being back in society, reconnecting with my community, reconnecting with, frankly, like, the great state of Maine, that has allowed me to really become the person I am today, which I’m very proud of. But I don’t get to be who I am today without the struggles that I had to go through,” Platner added.
Platner also told Raju that he spoke about the posts in October and has allowed the people of Maine to ask him about them directly.
GRAHAM PLATNER CLAIMS VOTERS CONCERNED OVER TRANS ATHLETES ARE ‘MANIPULATED BY BILLIONAIRES’
“I have gone all over the state of Maine and allowed people to ask me about it all directly, for months now. And it is, I think for a lot of folks in the state, to see this get kind of dragged back up, months and months after we’d already talked about it,” he said.
He added, “I will just say, the feedback we have received statewide is that people find all of this to be everything they hate about politics. And I think that that’s, politically in the state of Maine, that is more damaging than the fact that people can understand that I, as a person, have transformed over time and changed, which actually I think a lot of folks can identify with.”
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Platner has also faced backlash over a tattoo that is widely viewed as a Nazi symbol.
He announced in October that he covered up the tattoo.
Platner is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The primary election will be June 9.
The eventual Democratic nominee will go on to face incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who has held the seat since 1997.
At least three people were killed and two others injured Thursday when a helicopter crashed into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii.
According to the Kauaʻi Police Department, dispatchers received a call at approximately 3:45 p.m. that a helicopter had crashed into the ocean near Kalalau Beach.
The helicopter was operated by Airborne Aviation, with one pilot and four passengers onboard, officials said.
Officials confirmed in a news release that the crash resulted in three fatalities. Two others were taken to Wilcox Medical Center for treatment.
TWO PEOPLE KILLED AFTER HELICOPTER HITS POWER LINE AND CRASHES INTO BARGE ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER
The crash location along Kauaʻi’s north shore is a popular spot for helicopter tours, with views of cliffs, beaches and waterfalls along the Nā Pali Coast.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Airborne Aviation for comment.
This is a developing story; please check back for updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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TSA officers lose homes, can’t pay medical bills, can’t afford Easter baskets for their children
FIRST ON FOX — Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are receiving their third paycheck of zero dollars on Friday as the DHS shutdown drags on — with President Donald Trump saying late Thursday he would sign an executive order to “immediately pay our TSA Agents in order to address this Emergency Situation” and “quickly stop the Democrat Chaos at the Airports.”
TSA exclusively shared with Fox News Digital stories of officers stationed at various airports across the nation who have been experiencing great personal hardship as a result of the shutdown and its consequences, with names omitted for privacy reasons.
One officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia had his dream of owning a home abruptly shattered — forcing him to make life-altering decisions.
AIR TRAVELERS ARE HACKING TSA LINES DURING HOURS-LONG MAJOR AIRPORT WAITS
His bank denied him a loan for a home in Georgia due to his current inability to make rent payments.
The officer now has to move nearly 1,000 miles to go live with family in New York.
Here are other stories.
Yet another TSA officer, this one working at Tulsa International Airport in Oklahoma, suffered a devastating house fire last week on top of the challenges of receiving no pay.
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As a result, she lost her home, her belongings, her car and a beloved pet.
She and her family now have to rebuild their lives without knowing when she’ll be paid.
Another TSA officer had uprooted her life to move to New York to work at Albany International Airport.
Now, due to the back-to-back shutdowns and her lack of steady pay, her credit score has dropped from 800 to 500.
To survive, she moved into a camper, the agency reported. The electricity in the camper has since gone out — and she can’t afford to have it fixed.
At the beginning of the month, powerful storms ripped through Michigan, with tornadoes reducing some homes to rubble and causing widespread damage in the Great Lake State.
Multiple TSA officers working at Detroit Metropolitan Airport were left with damaged homes and vehicles. Today, these officers cannot afford to fix them, the TSA told Fox News Digital.
A TSA agent working at Portland International Airport in Oregon is the sole caregiver for his mother. He also supports his brother.
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Now, his mother has been diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer and his brother has suffered a severe leg infection — putting him out of work.
The TSA officer is responsible for these family members’ medical expenses.
A TSA agent at Bismarck Airport in North Dakota has worked there for nearly 10 years — enduring multiple government shutdowns.
She has had to make the tough choice now of leaving the job she loves after realizing she can’t even afford to buy Easter baskets for her children this year.
Since the start of this partial government shutdown, more than 480 TSA officers have been forced to quit their jobs.
“I can tell you right now that the reverberations that will be felt from this will be long-standing,” TSA Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl told Fox News Digital this week.
“They will continue for days [even] after we get a re-appropriation and funding, particularly for the TSA.”
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“We are already taking proactive measures to make sure that we’re going to get our people paid as quickly as possible,” he added.
Fox News Digital’s Preston Mizell contributed reporting.
In just his second season at the helm, Curt Cignetti led Indiana to its first national championship.
During the Hoosiers’ title run, Cignetti became known for his demanding coaching style. Indiana opened spring practice Thursday, and incoming transfer wide receiver Nick Marsh got a crash course in what it means to play for Cignetti.
Marsh, who transferred from Michigan State, arrived at practice in gold cleats. After noting Marsh’s productive two-year stint in East Lansing, Cignetti pivoted to the wideout’s footwear.
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“I didn’t love those gold shoes he came out in today,” Cignetti said. “He learned what getting your a– ripped is all about. I don’t know if that happened to him very often at Michigan State. That was before practice started.”
Marsh totaled 1,311 receiving yards and nine touchdowns at Michigan State. TCU quarterback Josh Hoover also headlines Indiana’s transfer additions.
Cignetti added that the coaching staff has “more work to do with this group than the first two teams,” noting the group is still learning more about players the team will likely rely on next season.
Indiana went 16-0 en route to a thrilling win over Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship in January.
Cignetti framed his callout of Marsh’s cleats as an early message about expectations.
“That was a wake-up call,” Cignetti said of the receiver’s pre-practice cleats. “But he’s really worked hard, done a great job for us.”
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TSA officers lose homes, can’t pay medical bills, can’t afford Easter baskets for their children
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