Platner pooh-poohs explosive rumors, while mother-in-law brands sexting allegations as “bulls*it.”
Maine’s presumptive Democrat U.S. Senate candidate has assured national party leaders the worst about his past has come out, a new report says.
But when a liberal U.S. senator stalwart backing his candidacy clarifies the difference between marital problems and rape, that may indicate what Graham Platner is now up against.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday about a meeting Platner had the day before with his backers in the nation’s capital.
“Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who attended the meeting, said there is a big difference between marital issues and allegations of sexual assault,” the Journal reported.
“Platner agreed and denied any credible allegations of assault were forthcoming,” the paper said.
Warren later refused to answer a question from CNN whether she’s concerned about more damaging allegations coming forward.
If she has insider information on allegations against Platner of sexual assault, then a New York Times story that came out Thursday that was reportedly going to address such claims came up short.
The piece appeared to be “a victory lap on a story that hasn’t come out yet,” in the words of Tom Shattuck, managing editor of The Maine Wire.
As it turned out, the potentially most damaging claim in the Times story was an ex-girlfriend quoted as saying Platner twisted her arm and held her in a room, which he denied Thursday night in a statement to the Associated Press.
The girlfriend, Lyndsey Fifield, later claimed the paper’s reporters “methodically delayed and twisted” her account into “a gift to the Platner campaign” – including spiking allegations of sexual assault against him, according to the New York Post.
Platner responded to the article in an interview on MS NOW Thursday night, calling Fifield’s claims “politically motivated” and “just not true.”
Key Platner supporter U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, asked the embattled candidate Tuesday whether any additional allegations would emerge against the embattled Democratic candidate.
Platner said there weren’t any, according to the Journal.
Sanders had gone on CNN earlier this week trying to downplay his candidate’s controversies.
If Sanders is going on national TV to defend his guy, there’s trouble for the campaign.
“It’s not a secret I’ve had a messy, complicated life,” Platner told the senators,” the Journal said. “The worst of the rumors we’ve all heard are not true.”
He didn’t specify what he meant by “the worst of the rumors.”
But the real question is what prompted Warren to bring up sexual assault.
Over the weekend, the Journal reported the married Platner engaged in sexually explicit texts with other women, prompting concerns among Democrats that his personal life could imperil the party’s shot at flipping one of the Senate’s most competitive seats.
Platner has said in past interviews he has nothing else to disclose, only to be the subject of another round of critical stories about his past behavior and comments.
“Rumors of additional stories with allegations of misconduct have been circulating in conversations between Democratic lawmakers, staffers, consultants and activists in recent days,” wrote Eliza Collins, a Journal reporter.
Platner abruptly ended his fundraising trip to Washington and fled back home after the New York Post showed up in his hometown of Sullivan, Maine asking questions about his past.
The Post reported that his mother-in-law declared allegations of him sexting other women “all bulls—.”
Elaine Crabtree – mother of Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner – was confronted at her Hope, Maine, residence about the sexting allegations. “It’s not true.
“I think Amy is a wonderful, amazing person,” Crabtree told the Post. “I think Graham is a wonderful, amazing person. They are trying so hard to bring about positive change. It’s too bad, the political system right now. It’s spending so much money on negative ads, it’s a shame. It should be used for other things.”
Wait until we find out why he was tossed out of Hotchkiss…