A rising Democratic star in Maine has opened up over claims of volatile and “toxic” behavior from women who had been romantically involved with him.
Graham Platner, 41, also addressed claims he sent sexually explicit messages behind his wife’s back to multiple women, and insisted he was not aware that a tattoo he got nearly two decades ago as a Marine in Croatia had Nazi connotations.
Platner appeared on MS NOW’s All In With Chris Hayes on Thursday in his first interview since the allegations appeared in a New York Times report. The scandalous claims have overshadowed his challenge against incumbent Susan Collins for her U.S. Senate seat.
Lyndsey Fifield, a 40-year-old Virginia conservative who dated Platner from 2013 to 2015 and has worked on Republican campaigns, told the Times Platner regularly grabbed her by the shoulders, and once twisted her arm behind her back and shoved her into a bedroom, where he told her to remain until she calmed down.
Fifield clarified that Platner never hit or punched her, and said the incident in the bedroom hurt but did not cause any injury.
When Hayes asked directly about the claims, Platner said they “did not” happen.
“There are some allegations in this piece that, I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true,” Platner continued. “Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who’s politically motivated.”
In the 25-minute interview, Platner said the Times article contained instances of his “struggling, not being a good boyfriend, certainly self-medicating without alcohol, and I’ve been very upfront since the beginning of this campaign, that that was a pretty dark period of my life after I came back from my combat service.”
He added, “There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for, and have been speaking about openly for months now. But those serious allegations are just not true.”
When directly asked if Fifield was “lying” by saying he grabbed her by the wrist, put his hands on her shoulders or pushed her into a room, Platner said, “Yes, that is not true.”
Platner married Amy Gertner, a former teacher, in November 2023. The Times article included claims that Platner had been active on dating apps during the early days of his marriage, and that he had still been messaging at least six other women.
Last week, Gertner had reportedly told Platner’s campaign staff her husband had previously exchanged sexual messages with other women, which could become public.
Asked by Hayes about sending sexually explicit messages to women other than his wife in 2023 and 2024, Platner said the interest in his marriage had been “jarring.”
“At the beginning of our marriage, I made mistakes, and Amy held me accountable for them, and we worked through them, and the work that we did made our marriage significantly stronger,” Platner said. “And who we are today is an incredibly faithful and happy married couple. Amy is my best friend. I love her more than anything else.”
He said his wife’s trust had been “betrayed” by someone they had “put our trust in,” and who had made “private parts of our marriage into a bit of a public political spectacle. It’s hard.”
Platner said his wife “has given me a lot of grace and a lot of love over the years and I’m a lucky man for it.”
Platner confirmed to Hayes that the women he messaged were all over age, and he said the “consensual” messages ended in the early days of his marriage.
He also addressed a skull and crossbones tattoo that has been likened to a Nazi symbol saying he has had it for 17 years and got it with other Marines he served with in Iraq.
“I got a security clearance with the State Department. I re-enlisted in the United States Army, where I was screened for gang and hate tattoos. And I took my shirt off in front of my family, many of who were Jewish,” he said, of going shirtless at a wedding.
The Democrat shared the full MS NOW interview on his X account on Thursday, with the caption, “These are serious accusations. They are also false.”
He added, “Throughout this campaign, I’ve been open about a very dark period of my life, when I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD. I’m not proud of the man I once was, but I’m proud of the man I am today, and of the movement we’ve built.”
