\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON — <\/span>President Donald Trump<\/a> laced into Graham Platner<\/a> on Wednesday, calling the Senate candidate from Maine a \u201cthug\u201d and a \u201cpig\u201d and suggesting that the Democratic Party was hypocritical for lining up behind someone with so many questions about his past personal conduct and treatment of women<\/a>.<\/p>\n That line of political attack was striking coming from a president who himself has been accused of misconduct with women<\/a>, was once caught on audio bragging about grabbing women by the genitals<\/a> and was found liable by a New York jury for sexual abuse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump also has endorsed a parade of Republicans with their own personal baggage \u2014 but that didn’t stop him from faulting the other side for doing the same. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a thug, and they\u2019re trying to make excuses for him,\u201d Trump said of top Democrats. \u201cI mean, he\u2019s worse than any human being that\u2019s ever run for office, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n Platner, who clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night, has faced criticism over numerous issues, including past inflammatory online posts<\/a>, a tattoo he had covered up<\/a> that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol and sexually explicit texts<\/a> he sent to women after getting married. He will face five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the November election.<\/p>\n Asked about Trump’s comments, Platner’s campaign said the candidate remained focused on issues facing Maine.<\/p>\n The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in response, issued a statement focused on Collins, who is considered one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection this year.<\/p>\n \u201cSusan Collins is facing backlash in Maine after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time, being the decisive vote for the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and selling out to the special interests that fund her campaigns after three decades in the Senate, and that\u2019s why Trump praised her today in the Oval Office,\u201d spokesperson Josh Marcus-Blank said in a statement.<\/p>\n The White House defended Trump’s comments by noting Platner’s past social media posts.<\/p>\n \u201cGraham Platner proudly referred to himself as a \u2018communist,\u2019 called all police \u2018bastards,\u2019 and said rural White Americans \u2018actually are\u2019 racist and stupid. President Trump is absolutely correct that Platner is both a thug and a pig. Attempting to compare President Trump to Graham Platner is exactly why trust in legacy media outlets like the failing Associated Press is at an all-time low,\u201d White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.<\/p>\n Trump, when speaking about Platner to reporters at the White House during an event to sign an immigration and deportation funding bill<\/a>, said, \u201cNobody\u2019s ever had a record like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s like a pig,\u201d the president said, adding that perhaps \u201cpigs would be very upset\u201d to be associated with Platner, drawing laughter from assorted Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office with him. <\/p>\n Trump then brought up another scandal that has swirled around him dating back to his first term as president: his former friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>. Trump sought to paint Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer as a hypocrite, saying he \u201cgoes crazy over this or that or Epstein, Epstein, Epstein\u201d but instead should be concerned about Platner.<\/p>\n Later, Trump offered, \u201cCan you imagine if the Republicans had him?\u201d<\/p>\n Setting aside the allegations Trump has faced over the years, Republicans have had candidates who were accused of serious misconduct who nonetheless won Trump’s backing.<\/p>\n The president this year endorsed Republican Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton<\/a> over incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn, though Paxton had faced state and federal corruption investigations and a 2023 state impeachment trial<\/a> in which he was acquitted but publicly exposed his extramarital affair. Paxton has said allegations of wrongdoing were politically motivated.<\/p>\n Trump also didn’t back away from endorsing 2017 Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore<\/a>, who was accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades earlier. Trump, at the time, noted Moore\u2019s denials<\/a> and said his vote was needed for Republican priorities. Moore’s eventual loss gave way to the first Alabama Democratic senator<\/a> in a quarter-century.<\/p>\n He endorsed 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson<\/a> and declined to rescind the backing after CNN reported that the candidate had made lewd and racist comments on a pornography website \u2014 though he did try to distance himself<\/a>. Robinson, who later acknowledged making the posts, handily lost<\/a> the general election in the swing state.<\/p>\n He similarly decided not to revoke his support for Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales this year after the congressman acknowledged an affair with a staff member<\/a> who later died by suicide. Gonzales ended his reelection bid<\/a>, and Trump later endorsed someone else.<\/p>\n Trump also picked officials for his second-term Cabinet<\/a> and other key offices who had been accused of some form of sexual misconduct. <\/p>\n That includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was accused of sexual assault<\/a> and denied it, and Trump\u2019s initial choice for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who faced a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation and a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct. <\/p>\n Gaetz denied wrongdoing and withdrew his name from consideration. The DOJ investigation ended without federal charges against him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n