In the wake of Graham Platner’s campaign imploding, I’m reminded of when, after Joe Biden's disastrous debate against President Trump, the entire Democrat Party suddenly pretended it had no idea the man could barely string a sentence together. Now that same theater is playing out in Maine, where members of Platner’s inner circle are pretending the latest accusations against him blindsided them.
Platner suspended his campaign after rape allegations from a woman named Jenny Racicot became public. Platner's team members have a bigger problem than the allegation itself. Their account of when they learned about it doesn't add up.
As PJ Media previously reported, a New York Times article last month mentioned Racicot’s allegations but conveniently omitted the most serious accusations against Platner. Lyndsey Fifield, in the wake of the report, revealed that the Times dropped sexual assault allegations from its story, so it’s not like the campaign shouldn’t have known they were coming.
“As soon as the team became aware of the rape allegations against Graham Platner we advised he suspend his candidacy, and in the following days worked to wind down the campaign,” top Platner aide Morris Katz claimed Thursday in a post on X. “Like so many of his supporters, I’m deeply disappointed.”
However, the facts belie Katz's claim.
“As soon as we asked the campaign about what Jenny Racicot told us on the record and on camera Monday, the campaign said that her assertion he had raped her was false,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said on X in response to Katz.
ICYMI: Why I Don’t Think Platner Is Actually Going to Drop Out
The Wall Street Journal also reported that "Platner and his advisers were concerned about potential allegations from women he had dated and made some efforts to contact them, according to former campaign staffers. Yet they never reached out to Racicot, according to her representative, Cheyenne Hunt." The campaign, it turns out, was most worried about Lyndsey Fifield, a woman Platner dated years ago in Washington, "because of her work for conservative candidates and causes.”
Fifield told the Journal that Platner sent her only a casual text before his August 2025 campaign launch, wishing her well, and that she reminded him she kept diaries during their relationship.
But there’s another angle to this story that debunks Katz’s claim.
Once the Racicot story broke, Platner's operation was set to lose access to every campaign function and tool it had, voter data included, leaving no realistic path forward. That should have made his exit simple. Instead, Platner has been dragging his feet on the paperwork required to withdraw formally. As PJ Media previously reported, Platner says he will file the paperwork to withdraw on Monday, the same day as the deadline by which the party can still replace him on the ballot. As I previously wrote, that’s cutting it awfully close. How long does it take to fill out and submit a form? These are not the actions of a campaign trying to do the right thing. Is Platner still trying to strong-arm the party into picking his preferred replacement? Or is he simply too angry at Democrats for pushing him out to bother filing at all?
Either way, Katz's tweet claiming a lightning-fast, above-board response now looks like the kind of overstatement that invites more scrutiny. The question you have to ask now is “Why?”
Just as with the Joe Biden debacle, people are trying to save themselves from the fallout. Democrats didn’t want to be accused of being part of the cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline, and now, they don’t want to be accused of knowing Platner was a predator until the very end.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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