Pressure mounts on Graham Platner to drop out of Maine Senate race as new allegation emerges – as it happened

Summary: Graham Platner’s embattled campaign and allegations against him

Calls for resignation continue to mount for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a day after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault in an exclusive story published by Politico.
Platner has denied the allegation, calling it “categorically false” but said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” in the race.
This statement hasn’t convinced Democrats, from Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who believe the best path forward is for him to withdraw from the race.
Progressive senator Bernie Sanders, who had previously endorsed Platner and rallied with him repeatedly in Maine, also asked him to step aside.
Representatives for Platner’s campaign have yet to announce whether he plans to remain in the race. An exit from the race should be made by 13 July, as stated in Maine state law. Should he withdraw, the Democratic Party in the state must name an alternative by 27 July.
The controversy comes at a rocky time for Democrats, as Platner had been seen as the party’s strongest chance to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
A new allegation emerged on Tuesday. Another woman he had previously dated told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex.

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. We’ll be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:

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Calls for Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, to withdraw his candidacy intensified on Tuesday after a woman accused him of sexual assault in an exclusive report by Politico. While Platner denied the claims on Monday, top lawmakers including Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, and numerous others have called for him to withdraw from the race. More here.

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But the question remains: who might replace Platner? In order to have a new candidate on the ballot for November’s general election, Platner needs to end his campaign by Monday 13 July at 5pm ET, and Democrats would have a two-week window to pick a replacement. Names in the frame include Nirav Shah, former deputy director of the Maine center for disease control and prevention (CDC), current secretary of state Shenna Bellows, and former state senate president Troy Jackson. More here.

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Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back. Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy. More here.

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A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education. Judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment. More here.

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Ninety-five per cent of Americans believe the US is suffering an affordability crisis, as many report trouble with the rising cost of groceries and gas, according to an exclusive new poll conducted for the Guardian. The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, paints a bleak picture of how people feel about the US economy amid the war in Iran and ahead of the key midterm elections this fall. More here.

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Calls for resignation continue to mount for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a day after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault in an exclusive story published by Politico.

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Platner has denied the allegation, calling it “categorically false” but said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” in the race.

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This statement hasn’t convinced Democrats, from Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who believe the best path forward is for him to withdraw from the race.

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Progressive senator Bernie Sanders, who had previously endorsed Platner and rallied with him repeatedly in Maine, also asked him to step aside.

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Representatives for Platner’s campaign have yet to announce whether he plans to remain in the race. An exit from the race should be made by 13 July, as stated in Maine state law. Should he withdraw, the Democratic Party in the state must name an alternative by 27 July.

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The controversy comes at a rocky time for Democrats, as Platner had been seen as the party’s strongest chance to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.

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A new allegation emerged on Tuesday. Another woman he had previously dated told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex.

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An ex-girlfriend of the Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex.

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According to the report, Lyndsey Fifield had told Platner multiple times between 2013 and 2015, while they dated, that protection was needed because she was not on birth control.

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“He would pull condoms off,” Fifield, who has previously accused Platner of physical abuse, told the Post. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”

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Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back.

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Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara on Tuesday, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy.

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Keir Starmer and European allies have been determined to avoid another public bust-up with Trump over defence spending after a bruising year for Nato, in which the Iran war once again exposed cracks in the alliance.

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Democrats path to winning control of the Senate is narrow – and some fear, following the upheaval in Maine, getting narrower. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber. Democrats must flip four seats to clinch a majority.

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Maine is key. Defeating the state’s five-term Republican incumbent, Senator Susan Collins was already an uphill task, but now with Platner’s campaign in turmoil and uncertainty over whether he will even remain on the ballot, the path becomes potentially more challenging.

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Democrats are also eyeing Alaska, where a former Democratic congresswoman, Mary Peltola, is running for Senate, North Carolina, where the state’s former governor, Roy Cooper, is Democratic nominee.

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From there, Democrats would have to gain a seat in at least one other very red state – either Ohio, Iowa or Texas, where the party is unexpectedly hopeful that their nominee, James Talarico, can pull off an upset.

n At the same time, Democrats will also need to defend the seats in swing states, including Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan.

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Even with historical precedent and Trump’s low approval ratings, clinching the Senate remains a tall task for the minority party.

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The weeks-long hospitalization of GOP senator Mitch McConnell is rattling his party’s narrow majority today as members awaited word on whether he would return, AFP reports.

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The Kentucky Republican, 84, who led the Senate GOP for longer than anyone in history before stepping down last year, has not voted since 11 June and is serving the final months of a congressional career that began in 1985.

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McConnell was admitted to hospital on 14 June, with his office saying only that he was “receiving excellent care”.

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But emergency dispatch audio reported by multiple outlets has deepened concern in Washington, indicating that responders were sent that morning to McConnell’s address for an unconscious person and that CPR was in progress.

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The recordings don’t name McConnell, and his office has not publicly said what caused his hospitalization or what treatment he is receiving.

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“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” his spokesman said in a statement. “The senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

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McConnell at a hearing at the Capitol on 19 May.”,”caption”:”Mitch McConnell at a hearing at the Capitol on 19 May. “,”credit”:”Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

The lack of detail has fueled speculation over whether McConnell will be able to return when senators come back to Washington next week – and whether Republicans can afford his continued absence.

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With the party’s narrow 53-47 Senate majority, majority leader John Thune has little room for missing votes or defections as he tries to advance spending bills and other priorities before November’s midterm elections.

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McConnell’s absence has already mattered.

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He missed a 23 June vote on a House-passed resolution directing Donald Trump to withdraw US troops from the military conflict with Iran. Four GOP senators joined Democrats, and the measure passed with McConnell and Republican senator David McCormick absent.

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His continued hospitalization could also complicate efforts to move defense funding and other legislation through the Senate appropriations committee, where his absence can leave Republicans and Democrats evenly split.

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Maine voters spoke to the Associated Press in the wake of the latest sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate.

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Joanie Monteith, a passionate supporter from the southern Maine town of York who organized a trivia night about Platner in March, told the AP through tears Tuesday that she was “numb” and “heartbroken” at the news. She was waiting for another public statement from Platner before making a decision about whether she could keep supporting him.

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“I’m in tears. I’m numb and I’m waiting for what Graham has to say. I’m trying not to be a part of this public trial. And I’m heartbroken. And I’m heartbroken for him and his wife.”

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She added she believes the allegations are serious.

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“I’m not going to blame a victim. Because if this is true I feel very bad for the woman,” she said. “You just don’t know how to feel.”

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Another Maine voter, Lee Holman, said she wants Platner to stay in the race.

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“I feel like the people of Maine have spoken,” the Democrat said. “If they wanted Janet Mills, they could have voted for her.”

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She said the allegation against Platner may be legitimate, but she questions the timing. Democrats, she added, can be too quick to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” by calling on politicians facing allegations to resign.

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“Every time we think we have a chance to snatch our democracy back, something gets in the way,” she said.

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Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has been a staunch supporter of Graham Platner, is now urging the embattled Democratic candidate to withdraw from the Maine Senate race.

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In a short new statement, Sanders said:

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n

I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.

n

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We are still waiting for more news from the Platner campaign.

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While speaking to reporters at City Hall on Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani weighed in on the sexual assault allegation against Graham Platner, and called for the Democratic nominee to end Senate bid.

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“I believe that it’s time for him [Platner] to drop out of the race,” the New York mayor said. “I think the focus of today should be to respond to the gravity of what so many of us have read, and I think that the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.”

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While Mamdani had not backed officially endorsed Platner throughout the midterm cycle, the two have shared strategists and campaign officials, including close adviser Morris Katz.

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As we discuss the mechanics of how Democrats could replace Graham Platner as the Senate nominee, it’s worth digging into some of the names that are floating around as potential candidates.

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Many of the contenders who have gained traction from national Democrats and state operatives appear to be the runners-up in the crowded Democratic gubernatorial race which former Maine House speaker Hannah Pingree won in June. Nirav Shah, the former deputy director of the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), current secretary of state Shenna Bellows an former state Senate president Troy Jackson are all names that have been floated.

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All three have called on Platner to step down in the wake of a sexual assault allegation, so the party can select a replacement. “For too long, women who survive sexual violence have been told to stay quiet, to protect the men who hurt them, to think about the campaign, the party, the cause. We cannot ask women to trust us with their futures while looking the other way when one of our own hurts them,” said Jackson, who campaigned alongside Platner.

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Speaking to the Bangor Daily News, Jackson said that he had “never considered” stepping into the race, but if Platner ends his bid, Jackson – a logger and former state lawmaker – said he is “very interested” and “the best person to replace him”. The outlet also reported that Shah and Bellows received “numerous encouraging calls of support Monday as potential Platner replacements”, according to people familiar with the conversations.

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On Tuesday, a grassroots effort to “draft” Jackson as the Democratic Senate nominee was launched – which included a campaign-style video meeting with voters and local businesses. While Shah issued a statement saying that “anyone running for this nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and hold multiple public town halls across every corner of the state”.

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The former public health director added that he is “committed” to doing that should he run.

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Jordan Wood – a former congressional staffer who initially ran against Platner before switching to a competitive House race and losing to Matt Dunlap – has also reportedly been fielding calls about potentially entering the Senate race.

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A reminder that it is possible for Democrats to replace their party’s Senate nominee in Maine.

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However, the clock is ticking for this to be a possibility. In order to have a new candidate on the ballot for the general election, Graham Platner would have to end his campaign by 13 July at 5pm ET, according to state law.

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Democrats would then have a two week window – until 5pm ET on 27 July – to pick a replacement.

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Following the recent sexual assault allegation reported by Politico on Monday, Maine Democratic party leaders called on Platner to step down. The powerful Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has already said that it would no longer invest in the Maine Senate race as long as Platner remains on the ballot.

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State law doesn’t dictate the exact process for selecting a replacement nominee, but there has been consternation among Democrats about a closed-door party selection, which would bypass a competitive process that effectively allows voters to repeat the primary process.

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“If a process for selecting a new nominee becomes necessary, it will be open, transparent, and inclusive,” said Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, in a statement. “[The party] hopes that we have broad participation of Mainers and Democratic voters in what happens next. In no scenario is there a legal possibility for a nominee to be selected by an individual campaign.”

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Donald Trump said he had a “very good talk” withVladimir Putin, ahead of arriving in Turkey.

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This comes amid a wave of recent Russian strikes across Ukraine that have killed at least 21 people. The US president said that he also spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the Nato summit.

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“I think they both want to make a deal. It’s too bad it took so long,” Trump said, despite insisting that he would resolve the conflict on his first day back at the White House. “I think we’re going to get it settled, hopefully soon.”

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Donald Trump, once again, said he was “very disappointed” in Nato member countries today while fielding questions from reporters in Ankara.

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While meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump repeated his frustration with the alliance, and said that if the Nato summit “weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended”.

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Trump also criticized member states for their decision to stay out of the conflict with Iran. “We weren’t treated well,” the US president said. “I didn’t even want their help, as they said they wouldn’t be there, we’ve invested trillions of dollars in Nato to protect European countries and others.”

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He also said that the decision from outgoing UK prime minister Keir Starmer – to belatedly allow US forces to use UK airbases for “defensive” strikes on Iran – was “a very unpopular thing”. In actuality, there were several other factors – not the Middle East conflict – that dented Starmer’s standing in the UK.

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“I was testing people, I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there. Because I’ve long said that we help them, but I’m not sure that they’d be there for us,” Trump added. “Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down, and it’s OK, but you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us? We’ve always been there for them.”

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Trump takes questions from reporters with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey, 7 July 2026.”,”caption”:”Donald Trump takes questions from reporters with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, Turkey, 7 July 2026.”,”credit”:”Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1783428680000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”08.51 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1783429671000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”09.07 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1783429380000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”09.03 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”09.03″,”title”:”‘I was testing people’: Trump chides Nato member countries on Iran war involvement ahead of summit”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Tue 7 Jul 2026 22.00 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Tue 7 Jul 2026 06.15 EDT”},{“id”:”6a4cd4708f088e0ef0809969″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

President Donald Trump and his Nato counterparts are gathering in Turkey today for a two-day summit that comes at a turning point in the organization’s history as the United States steps back from its traditional security role in Europe.

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Ahead of the meeting in Ankara, Trump has insisted on “loyalty” after some Nato countries balked at allowing U. forces to use their bases for attacks on Iran, AFP reports.

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He listed big European members Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain for criticism.

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The summit is a symbolic moment when the 32 member countries of the world’s biggest military alliance underline their unshakeable commitment to one another’s security.

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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

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Maine’s Democratic party leadership has called for US Senate candidate Graham Platner to withdraw from the race, as the scandal-hit Marine veteran loses support from his previously most vocal backers.

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It comes as Politico reported that Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident who previously dated Platner – whose insurgent rise has drawn comparisons to president Donald Trump – accused him of forcing her to have sex in late 2021.

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Platner rejected the allegation and, in a video message posted to X after the report was published, called the allegations “troubling, serious and false.”

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However, many top Democratic figures have called on the beleaguered nominee to step down. In a joint statement, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand said Platner should “immediately withdraw”.

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Ro Khanna, the California representative who has been one of Platner’s most vocal supporters, also said he should drop out. “I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” he wrote on X. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

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Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who endorsed Platner in March, said in a statement “there can be no tolerance for sexual assault”. She said: “With so much at stake, the best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.”

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The allegation lands at a perilous moment for Democrats, who view Maine as a central battleground in their effort to regain control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections.

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Read the latest story here:

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In other developments:

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Trump’s latest attempt to delay payment of a $5.8m judgment for defaming a magazine columnist whom a jury determined he sexually abused has been emphatically rejected by a federal court judge. More here.

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Trump rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the White House to mark the first trading day for Trump accounts, a government initiative that provides children with a $1,000 investment account. It is the first joint opening of the exchanges, and the first time the bell had been rung at the White House. More here.

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National guard soldiers on patrol in Memphis shot and killed a man that authorities in the Tennessee city said turned and pulled a gun on the troops during a chase. The shooting took place at about 4am on Sunday as the soldiers responded to a report of gunfire. The Tennessee national guard was deployed controversially by the state’s governor, Bill Lee, in October to support the federal push by Donald Trump, his fellow Republican, to tackle perceived crime surges in Democratic-run cities. More here.

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Key events

Closing summary

This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. We’ll be back on Wednesday. Here are the latest developments:

Calls for Graham Platner, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Maine, to withdraw his candidacy intensified on Tuesday after a woman accused him of sexual assault in an exclusive report by Politico. While Platner denied the claims on Monday, top lawmakers including Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, and numerous others have called for him to withdraw from the race. More here.
But the question remains: who might replace Platner? In order to have a new candidate on the ballot for November’s general election, Platner needs to end his campaign by Monday 13 July at 5pm ET, and Democrats would have a two-week window to pick a replacement. Names in the frame include Nirav Shah, former deputy director of the Maine center for disease control and prevention (CDC), current secretary of state Shenna Bellows, and former state senate president Troy Jackson. More here.
Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back. Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy. More here.
A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education. Judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment. More here.
Ninety-five per cent of Americans believe the US is suffering an affordability crisis, as many report trouble with the rising cost of groceries and gas, according to an exclusive new poll conducted for the Guardian. The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, paints a bleak picture of how people feel about the US economy amid the war in Iran and ahead of the key midterm elections this fall. More here.

The Maine Democratic Party’s executive director, Devon Murphy-Anderson, said that Graham Platner’s team has tried to influence the process for replacing him as the Democrats’ US Senate nominee.

“Graham Plattner’s team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like”, Murphy-Anderson said in a video posted on social media. “We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Plattner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the US Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like”.

“We have also reiterated that Graham Plattner must drop out of this race, so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November”, she added. “We look forward to making this process public as soon as Graham Plattner formally withdraws from this race”.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is set to hold a nomination hearing for Jay Clayton, Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as the permanent director of national intelligence, on 15 July.

Clayton is US attorney for the southern district of New York, where he oversees one of the justice department’s most prestigious prosecution offices. He previously served as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The official date comes after Trump faced widespread criticism of his decision to install a controversial ally, Bill Pulte, as acting director of national intelligence while searching for a permanent candidate.

In June, the hearing was postponed in an effort by the US president to force Congress to act on a voter ID bill. Republican senator and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, tried to push the hearing forward anyway, but Trump directed Clayton to not appear for his confirmation proceedings, forcing Cotton to announce that the hearing was postponed.

A federal judge denied a request by the justice department asking for personal information from people who worked during the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. The request is part of the Trump administration’s false claims that widespread election fraud cost him the 2020 election.

In April, the justice department served a grand jury subpoena requesting the names and personal contact information of county employees and volunteer poll workers in an effort to support the theory that the election was unfair.

“Given the low need for the subpoenaed information and the highly burdensome nature of the disclosure of the same, the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed,” US district judge William Ray wrote in his ruling.

While grand juries often work with federal prosecutors to investigate alleged crimes, “that does not give the DOJ the right to use the Grand Jury to do whatever the DOJ wants,” wrote Ray.

Michigan Democratic Senate primary candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens faced off in a somewhat heated debate that, while touching on China, Social Security and trade policy, also gave them an opportunity to point fingers at each other over their past spending.

So much so that moderator Rick Albin gave them a minute to hash out their differences.

“We have apparently scratched the surface on a couple of differences between the two of you, and this is not scripted, and this is not something that’s planned, and the people in the control room are about to pull their hair out”, Albin said. “I want to give you 30 seconds to pursue whatever this is that’s going on here. Obviously, you’ve got a question about some of the money in her campaign. You’ve got a question about some of the money in his pocket.”

“My opponent wants to make this race about lives and attacking my integrity and the work that I’ve done for the people of Michigan”, Stevens said. After outlining her track record, she asked, “Can we stop the lies, and can we get the transparency out that my opponents long talked about?”

El-Sayed was quick to criticize the super PACs funding Stevens, which have “bought airline tickets for my opponent, for her mother and herself to go to Portugal”.

“I don’t know what they talked about”, he said. “I don’t know what they did. So, if we want to talk about lies, I think it’s really important for us to understand who’s paying for them”.

On immigration, Abdul El-Sayed said the country should “abolish ICE”, referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, highlighting the massive crackdown in Minnesota that led to more than two months of protests and 4,000 arrests.

“I’ve been clear that you can’t reform ICE, you can’t retrain ICE. You have to abolish ICE”, he said. “ICE is a new agency. It is younger than I am. We have done this in the past in a way that respects the basic rule of law”.

Meanwhile, Haley Stevens said that “money needs to be redirected to those law enforcement agencies that are responsible for our safety and security”, referring to state and local law enforcement. “Donald Trump has abused his power, he has failed the American people, and we need change”.

Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary debate has kicked off.

Candidates include Abdul El-Sayed and representative Haley Stevens in a fight to replace retiring senator Gary Peters.

To start, candidates discussed inflation and what they would do to make Michiganders’ lives more affordable.

“Number one, we need to tackle health care by guaranteeing everybody health care without a deductible, a premium, or a copay through Medicare for all”, El-Sayed said. “Number two, we need to stand up to the monopolies and oligopolies that are picking our pockets. Number three, we need to stand up to increase wages, and I mean standing with unions like the UAW and the nurses who endorsed us.”

Stevens, also aiming to lower costs for groceries and utilities, took a stab at El-Sayed, saying that “I’m the only person running for United States Senate in Michigan who is not a millionaire”.

“I’m the only one on this stage who doesn’t have a talent agent trying to pitch me for paid speeches, and unlike my opponent, I’m not running at the first mic or camera I see”, she added.

To which El-Sayed replied: “We also don’t need politicians bought off by corporations in this race… The question is not whether or not you’re a millionaire, the question is whether or not you are bowing down to billionaires”.

Former Maine State Senator Troy Jackson, whose name has been floated to take Graham Platner’s place on the ballot in the Senate race, said he is “deeply humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement” he has received.

Jackson said he has not “made any final decisions yet”.

“The allegations against Graham Platner are serious, credible, and deserving of full accountability — they cannot and must not be ignored”, Jackson said in a statement. “There is a powerful movement of working class people in the state of Maine. For the sake of that movement, and the millions of Americans who have put their trust in it, Graham must now step down”.

Jackson continued: “To all of you who have poured your passion, dedication, and hope into this movement, I know you are hurting, and I want you to know that your efforts were not in vain. Your contributions matter. Your time matters. You matter.”

“While I haven’t made any final decisions yet, I’m deeply humbled by the outpouring of support and encouragement I’ve received,” reads the statement. “I’m currently weighing the best path forward to support our progressive movement and the working class political revolution Mainers are fighting for”.

Moments after US officials announced “powerful” strikes on Iran, Iranian state media reported several explosions heard in the region of the strait of Hormuz.

As a reminder, my colleague Nadeem Badshah is covering the latest developments in Iran in The Guardian’s Middle East live blog:

Summary: Graham Platner’s embattled campaign and allegations against him

Calls for resignation continue to mount for Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, a day after a woman he dated accused him of sexual assault in an exclusive story published by Politico.
Platner has denied the allegation, calling it “categorically false” but said he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” in the race.
This statement hasn’t convinced Democrats, from Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who believe the best path forward is for him to withdraw from the race.
Progressive senator Bernie Sanders, who had previously endorsed Platner and rallied with him repeatedly in Maine, also asked him to step aside.
Representatives for Platner’s campaign have yet to announce whether he plans to remain in the race. An exit from the race should be made by 13 July, as stated in Maine state law. Should he withdraw, the Democratic Party in the state must name an alternative by 27 July.
The controversy comes at a rocky time for Democrats, as Platner had been seen as the party’s strongest chance to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
A new allegation emerged on Tuesday. Another woman he had previously dated told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex.

Ex-girlfriend accuses Graham Platner of removing protection without consent – report

An ex-girlfriend of the Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner told The Washington Post that he repeatedly removed protection without her consent when they were having sex.

According to the report, Lyndsey Fifield had told Platner multiple times between 2013 and 2015, while they dated, that protection was needed because she was not on birth control.

“He would pull condoms off,” Fifield, who has previously accused Platner of physical abuse, told the Post. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”

Trump renews call for US to take over Greenland

Pippa Crerar

Donald Trump has revived his bid for the US to acquire Greenland, threatening to pull all American armed forces out of Europe after the continent repeatedly pushed back.

Arriving at the Nato summit in Ankara on Tuesday, the US president also suggested his commitment to defending Europe had been tempered by political decisions by leaders on immigration and energy.

Richard Luscombe

A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education.

In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment.

It accused the state of “puppeteering”: making the educators their mouthpieces by controlling what they can say or teach.

“Because the government pays the professors’ salaries, Florida says, their speech is the state’s speech,” Britt Grant, a Donald Trump-appointed judge who wrote the majority opinion, said. “Emphatically no.

“Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry – classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.”

It added: “The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the first amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.”

Earlier today, the New York Post reported that Morris Katz, who is Graham Platner’s campaign strategist and a former campaign adviser to NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, was still recommending that Platner remain in the Maine Senate race, citing a source.

“[Platner’s] team is delusional,” the Post’s source said, adding that Platner and Katz are deliberating about the Maine Democrat dropping out but only if his replacement shares his leftwing values.

Katz responded to the report on X this afternoon:

To be very clear, no one in campaign deliberations or familiar with my thinking is talking to the NYP.

The New York Times also reports (paywall) that Graham Platner said on a private call with his campaign staff yesterday evening that he believed he still had leverage to influence which candidate would replace him on the ticket, citing three people familiar with the conversation.

On the call, he didn’t announce plans to withdraw but implied such a decision would be coming, the people added.

And further to our earlier post about senator Mitch McConnell, who has been in hospital since 14 June, spokespeople for Senate majority leader John Thune and majority whip John Barrasso have confirmed to Politico that the two leaders spoke with the Kentucky Republican this week.

The disclosures come amid growing online speculation about McConnell’s health, with little detail from his own office about why he was hospitalized or his condition, and an increasingly rattled GOP that is wondering whether it can afford his continued absence from the Senate.

Thune and McConnell “had a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security”, a spokesperson for the majority leader said in a statement to Politico today.

Kate Noyes, a spokesperson for Barrasso, said the No. 2 leader and McConnell “had a lengthy conversation early this afternoon”, speaking by phone for roughly 20 minutes.

“They caught up about the latest news impacting Senate races, the Graham Platner scandal and the recent supreme court ruling on coordinated spending limits,” as well as the Senate agenda, she added. “Senator McConnell was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”

Both Thune and Barrasso previously said they had spoken to McConnell after his hospitalization. In addition, CNN commentator Scott Jennings, who was for a long time a McConnell adviser, posted on X today that he had also spoken with McConnell.

I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.

With his Maine Senate campaign on the brink after most of his allies urged him to back out, Graham Platner has yet to comment since yesterday’s video addressing the allegations against him.

But his campaign has stopped running ads on Meta’s platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the New York Times (paywall) reports, citing the company’s ad disclosure database. He had been running multiple ads as recently as yesterday evening.

Troy Jackson, a former Maine State lawmaker, has filed paperwork to run for US Senate on Tuesday, as Platner’s campaign teeters on collapse.

Jackson is a fifth-generation logger and former state Senate president who ran unsuccessfully for governor. Our Revolution, a political organization aligned with Senator Bernie Sanders, has announced that it would back Jackson – an early indication he would the left’s preferred candidate should he run for Senate.

The group rescinded their endorsement of Platner after a woman accused him of rape, calling the allegation “too serious to treat as a distraction from the campaign or the issues”. Platner has called the account “false”.

The state of crucial Senate races

At the same time, Democrats will also need to defend the seats in swing states, including Georgia, New Hampshire and Michigan.

Even with historical precedent and Trump’s low approval ratings, clinching the Senate remains a tall task for the minority party.

Pressure mounts on Graham Platner to drop out of Maine Senate race as new allegation emerges – as it happened

Summary: Graham Platner’s embattled campaign and allegations against him

Closing summary

Summary: Graham Platner’s embattled campaign and allegations against him

Ex-girlfriend accuses Graham Platner of removing protection without consent – report

Trump renews call for US to take over Greenland

The state of crucial Senate races

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