Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who dismissed Lyndsey Fifield’s abuse allegations over her work for ‘right-wing political operations,’ rescinded his endorsement of Platner
It’s always the one you most suspect.
When Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner faced allegations of physical abuse from an ex-girlfriend who worked for Republican organizations, left-wing lawmakers and pundits attacked her as a “political operative and known fabricator” who could not be trusted because of her involvement with “right-wing political operations.” Many of them are now distancing themselves from Platner after a left-wing ex-girlfriend accused him of rape.
Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.) dismissed Platner’s first accuser, Lyndsey Fifield, who said Platner “twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn’t get out,” as “a woman who works for right-wing political operations.”
“Seems like a lot of nothing,” Whitehouse said. But the Rhode Island lawmaker withdrew his support for Platner on Tuesday, calling the rape allegations from 41-year-old Maine Democrat Jenny Racicot “extremely serious.”
Former MSNBC pundit Mehdi Hasan called Fifield “an anti-Palestinian racist and bigot,” citing a 2024 tweet in which she criticized Palestinian terrorism. Hasan also noted that Platner denied Fifield’s allegations and that the New York Times “has been unable to corroborate” them, though Fifield provided texts, social media messages, and diary entries supporting her claims. Hasan has since boosted a number of posts calling Racicot’s allegations “immensely damaging,” “credible,” and “very serious” and calling on Platner to end his campaign.
A who’s who of leading anti-Israel media figures also attacked Fifield.
Former Times writer Wajahat Ali called her “a Republican operative” who “is known to be a hardcore right-wing activist” and concocted “an obvious Republican hit job” against Platner. Intercept cofounder Glenn Greenwald called her “a pathological liar … whose main cause is Israel” and whose politics are “clearly relevant” to the validity of her allegations. Commentator Krystal Ball, formerly of The Hill, called her a “political operative and known fabricator.” Former Intercept reporter Zaid Jilani called her a “hardcore GOP operator.” Drop Site News cofounder Ryan Grim called her a “Republican” who presented a “confusing” timeline of her relationship with Platner. Writer and frequent MS NOW contributor Matt Stoller called her “a professional Republican operative” making “uncorroborated claims.” And the left-wing pundit Emma Vigeland said her allegations were part of a “right-wing smear campaign.”
Ali, Ball, Jilani, and Vigeland have since said that Platner should drop out over Racicot’s allegations, which Stoller called “far more credible” than Fifield’s. Greenwald and Grim called on Maine Democrats to replace Platner with another progressive.
Platner’s demise is deeply embarrassing for the Democrats who defended him as he faced allegations of domestic abuse, admitted to engaging in sexting explicit text messages with several women just months after he got married, and sported a Nazi tattoo.
Former Obama speechwriter and Pod Save America host Jon Favreau, for example, called Platner a “good, decent man who’s struggled and grown and is always trying to do better” and called on “everyone with reservations” to take “a little time to get to know the real life version of him, not what the algorithm throws in our faces.” He also argued that Platner’s Nazi tattoo does not make him “sympathetic to Nazis.” Favreau urged Platner to “drop out ASAP” on Monday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) rallied alongside Platner in April and called him her “kind of man.” Pressed during a subsequent CNBC interview on Platner’s Nazi tattoo and praise for Hamas, Warren said Platner “has apologized” and is “out meeting with the people of Maine every single day so they can evaluate not who Graham Platner was but who Graham Platner is today.” She did not comment on Fifield’s allegations but called on Platner to drop out over Racicot’s, saying, “Now more than ever we need leaders in Washington who reflect our values. There can be no tolerance for sexual assault.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), two prominent Platner supporters, also called on him to drop out in the wake of Racicot’s allegations. Sanders did not explicitly address Fifield’s allegations, instead describing Platner as the “only one candidate who will do something” about the “rigged economy.” Khanna said that he believed Fifield and that Platner’s “actions were misogynistic” but stood by him anyway, telling CBS News, “Look, let’s give him some grace, and his focus is stopping these wars, and it’s getting national health insurance, and it’s taking on economic inequality.”
Not all of Fifield’s critics found Racicot’s allegations compelling. Left-wing journalist Michael Tracey, who speculated that Fifield “probably had more ‘power'” than Platner and “was the instigator of the purported ‘volatility’ in the relationship,” said Racicot engaged in a “sudden PR-choreographed ‘rape victim’ media rollout.” Influencer Kyle Kulinski, who is married to Ball, said Fifield’s allegations were “a hit job” from a “GOP operative.” He has not commented directly on Racicot’s allegations, though he did respond to a video of Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) criticizing Platner with an AI-generated image of Fetterman wearing an Israeli flag bikini.
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