{"id":2924,"date":"2026-07-10T12:54:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2924"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:54:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:54:48","slug":"trump-says-democrats-replacing-graham-platner-is-very-hard-for-them-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2924","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Democrats replacing Graham Platner is &#8216;very hard for them to do&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F133956003.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>President Trump\u00a0remarked that congressional Democrats would have a hard time replacing former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after the embattled candidate suspended his campaign Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very hard for them to do. It\u2019s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods. It\u2019s \u2026 he\u2019s in a bind. He\u2019s in a bind. But, should they be able to do it? Well, I guess he\u2019s going to lose. I imagine he\u2019s going to lose,\u201d Trump said while speaking to reporters on Air Force One before returning to the United States from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Platner suspended his campaign Wednesday evening after numerous Democrats and liberals who had previously backed him <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/07\/opinion\/dems-are-finally-pulling-the-plug-on-graham-platner-after-selfishly-ignoring-all-his-warning-signs\/\">pulled their support and encouraged him to drop out of the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The calls for his exit came after Politico published a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/graham-platner-sexual-assault-allegation-00987737\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bombshell report<\/a>\u00a0detailing rape allegations against Platner.<\/p>\n<p>In the story, Platner\u2019s ex-girlfriend <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/06\/us-news\/graham-platner-ex-accuses-him-of-rape-very-drunk-and-wouldnt-take-no-for-an-answer\/\">Jenny Racicot alleged he forced his way into her home and sexually assaulted her<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Graham Platner holds up a handmade card given to him by a supporter, Portland, Maine, June 7, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Politico report followed a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/04\/us\/politics\/platner-maine-senate-girlfriends-relationships.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York Times story<\/a>\u00a0that described another physical abuse allegation against Platner, this one from Lyndsey Fifield, a digital strategist for Republican political campaigns and organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Trump alluded to Fifield\u2019s allegations, wondering aloud why her allegations weren\u2019t a catalyst for outrage in the same manner that Racicot\u2019s were.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very interesting when <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/07\/us-news\/graham-platners-ex-girlfriend-alleges-maine-dem-would-sneakily-pull-off-condoms-during-sex\/\">the Republican woman came out with the same charge<\/a>, nobody believed her \u2026 when this woman came out everybody believed her, right?\u201d Trump asked reporters.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>President Trump speaks with the media aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, July 8, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fifield criticized the\u00a0New York Times\u2019 handling\u00a0of her accusations, spotlighting the paper\u2019s focus on her history of working for Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m out here on my own, I\u2019m the only one photographed and there\u2019s 11 paragraphs of my work history. Like, what is this?\u201d Fifield told Fox News Digital in a\u00a0Wednesday interview.<\/p>\n<p>Platner maintained that his suspension was not an admission of guilt and denied the allegations.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jenny Racicot alleged Platner forced his way into her home and sexually assaulted her in 2021. <span class=\"credit\">CNN<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While Platner <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/08\/us-news\/graham-platner-drops-out-of-maine-senate-race-after-rape-claim\/\">suspended his campaign Wednesday<\/a>, he has not officially dropped out to clear a path for a new candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Under Maine state law, he would have to drop out by July 13 to allow the Democratic Party to put a new candidate on the ballot in his stead.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital contacted the Platner campaign for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump\u00a0remarked that congressional Democrats would have a hard time replacing former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner after the embattled candidate suspended his campaign Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard for them to do. It\u2019s really a question of whether or not you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods. It\u2019s \u2026 he\u2019s in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/133956003.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}