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Platner officially terminates Senate bid after bombshell rape allegation ends campaign
Backlash intensifies as Graham Platner drops Senate bid
Former Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner withdraws from the race after a rape accusation, sparking political uproar. Platner blames the media and political establishment for his downfall, while critics, including Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, denounce his «narcissistic» video. Democrats now race to select a new nominee by July 27, with figures like Troy Jackson emerging.
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Graham Platner the embattled Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, on Friday publicly released the letter formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race, thanking supporters before signing off with, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
Platner posted the July 10 letter on X after submitting it to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections.
«I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate,» Platner wrote.
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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner speaks at his primary election event in Blue Hill, Maine, on June 9, 2026. (CJ Gunther/Getty Images)
The letter thanked the 156,084 Mainers who voted for him in last month’s Democratic primary and argued they had backed «a new kind of politics» focused on issues including Medicare for All, stronger unions and limiting the influence of billionaires in politics.
«My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,» Platner wrote. «As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.»
Platner concluded the letter by writing, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»
The letter comes two days after Platner announced he was suspending his campaign amid mounting controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied.
A populist Democrat who was backed last September by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, Platner was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile, combustible and expensive race in Maine, which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.
«For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,» Platner said on Wednesday in a video posted to social media.
The end of his campaign came a month after Platner won a landslide victory in Maine’s June 9 Democratic Senate primary, but days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated.
Maine resident Jenny Racicot told CNN «by dictionary definition» Platner «raped» her. She also said over the course of three interviews with Politico that Platner forced her to have sex five years ago against her will, a claim that he denied.
Platner last week was hit with a second explosive allegation of sexual misconduct. In a report published by The Washington Post, Platner was accused of removing condoms during sex with his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield after she explicitly directed him to wear them.
Fifield had previously accused Platner in a New York Times report of physical misconduct during their relationship, saying that he sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks on her body and that one time he twisted her arm around her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she «calmed down.»
The Platner campaign responded that Fifield’s latest allegations were «categorically false and politically motivated,» pointing to her previous work for the conservative Heritage Foundation.
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Addressing the multiple allegations in his video announcement last week, a visibly angry Platner charged, «This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real.»
The Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer became the all-but-certain party nominee in the spring after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the party establishment, suspended her bid after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.
But as he moved towards capturing the nomination, Platner was forced to play defense amid multiple controversies that muddied the final days of his primary campaign and overshadowed his victory.
Past inflammatory online comments made on a now-deleted Reddit account came back to haunt him at the same time he was reeling from revelations of a now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Then reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married came right before allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.
Platner repeatedly called the allegations of violence untrue.
The mounting controversies drew plenty of attention, gave Republicans more ammunition to use against him and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods.
But the allegations didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination in a landslide.
SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINATION DESPITE MOUNTING CONTROVERSIES
Platner, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines after he launched his Senate campaign.
In his primary night victory speech last month, Platner emphasized that he was a changed man.
«If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,» Platner told the crowd. «And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.»
After the latest allegations went viral last week, a growing chorus of Democrats called on Platner to quit the race, from establishment figures like Schumer to progressives among his biggest backers, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine in June.
The Maine Democratic Party announced last week that officials were working «around the clock» to determine a replacement process, but claimed Platner’s team was trying «to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.»
Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate for Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a bruising campaign which became as much about his accusations of past misbehavior as it was voters’ top concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Platner’s team, responding, said they had reached out to the party but denied they were trying to put any «finger on the scale.»
A day later, the state party announced it would hold a nominating convention, which Fox News Digital confirmed would likely consist of 600 voting delegates, to choose a new Senate nominee.
That didn’t appear to sit well with Platner, who in his video said, «What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9….said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually represent them. Vote against the political system. Against the donor class. Against the entrenched forces.»
Platner, who ran an outsider campaign, said that if he had continued his bid, he’d lose the ability to raise money and access crucial voter data, essential elements to any campaign.
«Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all the things that we need to run a campaign,» he charged.
Since last Wednesday’s announcement, a slew of Democrats have jumped into the race to succeed Platner as the party’s Senate nominee.
The list includes three gubernatorial contenders who came up short in last month’s primary: progressive Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who was also backed by Sanders; Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
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Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
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Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.
Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.
chuck schumer, graham platner, bernie sanders, democrats elections, midterm elections, maine, senate elections
Apple acusó el viernes a OpenAI de robar secretos sobre productos aún en desarrollo, lo que ha dado pie a un enfrentamiento legal entre dos de las mayores empresas tecnológicas del mundo.
En una demanda presentada ante el Tribunal de Distrito de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito Norte de California, el gigante tecnológico de consumo afirmó que OpenAI, líder en inteligencia artificial que cuenta con una nueva división de hardware, había solicitado a los candidatos a puestos de trabajo de Apple que compartieran detalles sobre proyectos secretos y que llevaran componentes y prototipos de dispositivos a sus entrevistas.
Apple también acusó a un empleado de OpenAI de descargar documentos internos de un ordenador portátil propiedad del fabricante del iPhone.
Según la demanda, OpenAI utilizó la información confidencial para contactar con los socios fabricantes de Apple, llegando incluso a pedirle a uno de ellos que demostrara la técnica de Apple para el acabado de metales en sus dispositivos.
Según la demanda, Apple envió una carta a OpenAI en febrero para expresar su preocupación de que información confidencial pudiera estar llegando a OpenAI de forma indebida. Apple afirmó que OpenAI no respondió.
“El incipiente negocio de hardware de OpenAI se asienta ahora sobre cimientos sumamente inestables, podrido hasta la médula por su dependencia ilegal de secretos comerciales malversados”, escribió Apple en su demanda.
OpenAI no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
(El New York Times ha demandado a OpenAI y Microsoft, alegando infracción de derechos de autor por contenido informativo relacionado con sistemas de IA. Ambas compañías han negado dichas acusaciones).
La demanda de Apple contra OpenAI agrava el deterioro de la relación entre estos gigantes tecnológicos. Apple se ha mantenido al margen de la IA, incluso mientras otros gigantes tecnológicos invierten cientos de miles de millones de dólares en la creación de modelos de IA y centros de datos, y mientras las empresas emergentes impulsan los límites de esta tecnología.
Para ponerse al día, Apple llegó a un acuerdo con OpenAI en 2024 para utilizar la tecnología de la startup de IA y renovar sus productos, incluido su asistente digital Siri. Sin embargo, OpenAI se mostró decepcionada por la forma en que Apple integró ChatGPT e incluso consideró emprender acciones legales. En enero, Apple anunció su colaboración con Google para impulsar Siri y sus otros productos de IA.
Para colmo de males, OpenAI, que ha presentado de forma confidencial una solicitud para salir a bolsa, está creando por sí misma una nueva familia de productos de hardware.
El año pasado, OpenAI pagó 6.500 millones de dólares para adquirir IO , que en aquel entonces era un estudio de diseño con apenas un año de existencia, fundado por Jony Ive, antiguo jefe de diseño de Apple. Desde entonces, ingenieros y diseñadores han abandonado Apple progresivamente para unirse a OpenAI.
En su demanda del viernes, Apple acusó a Tang Tan, director de hardware de OpenAI y ex ejecutivo de Apple, de instruir a sus nuevos empleados procedentes de Apple sobre cómo eludir los procesos de seguridad de Apple para los empleados que abandonan la empresa.
El señor Tan no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
Apple acusó a otro exempleado, Chang Liu, de usar la computadora portátil de Apple de una excompañera para acceder y descargar documentos técnicos mientras trabajaba en OpenAI. Según Apple, Liu le indicó a esa empleada qué información sobre productos no anunciados debía estudiar antes de las entrevistas de trabajo.
Según la demanda, el Sr. Liu también planeaba acceder a documentos internos a través de una computadora portátil propiedad de Apple que no devolvió cuando dejó la empresa.
El señor Liu no respondió de inmediato a la solicitud de comentarios.
Según la demanda, OpenAI engañó a la empresa fabricante a la que se dirigió para obtener información sobre la técnica de acabado de metales, haciéndole creer que tenía el permiso de Apple para verla.
Apple solicita una orden judicial que impida a OpenAI poseer, usar o compartir los secretos comerciales de Apple, así como una orden que obligue a OpenAI a devolver la propiedad intelectual de Apple.
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Michigan Senate hopeful calls AIPAC donations ‘legalized bribery,’ remains silent on other donations
Rep Debbie Dingell says Democrats ‘made a mistake’ ignoring Maine scandal
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., reacts to Democratic Senate hopefuls Abdul El-Sayed and Haley Stevens engaging in a fiery debate, revealing a deep divide over support for Israel and AIPAC. Dingell emphasizes the significance of Israel-related issues for Michigan’s diverse Jewish and Arab American communities.
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Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, called dinations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) a form of «bribery.»
«Next week, AIPAC is set to spend at least $3,847,990 against me. Why? Because [Haley Stevens] is more committed to the future of a foreign country than keeping your tax dollars here to provide schools and healthcare for you and your kids,» El-Sayed said in a post to X.
«Legalized bribery at its worst.»
The post, which comes a little under a month before a primary against Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., a pro-Israel and establishment candidate, raises questions about foreign interests represented in American elections and whether El-Sayed’s criticisms could be applied to other groups.
JOSH SHAPIRO WARNS THAT ATTACKS ON AIPAC ARE BEING USED TO ‘SILENCE CERTAIN VOTERS’
Michigan Senate Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed has spent his campaign denying he wanted to defund the police, but in an unearthed clip he asked, «Do police really need to use guns?» (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
«Does that apply to PAL PAC and Arab American PAC?» Chuck Ross, an investigative reporter, wrote in a post to X, referring to two pro-palestine groups.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital along those lines.
Israel and its influence in American politics have been key themes for the Michigan Senate primary. Stevens, a member of the House of Representatives, endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has heavily criticized El-Sayed for questioning the U.S.-Israel alliance amid the conflict with Hamas.
«I can say that Israel has a right to peacefully exist alongside the people of Palestine and Gaza,» Stevens said at a debate on Tuesday evening.
DEMOCRATS’ CIVIL WAR HEADS TO MICHIGAN WHERE PROGRESSIVES FACE BIGGEST TEST YET IN HIGH-STAKES SENATE SHOWDOWN
Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan, right, and former Wayne County Health Department Director Abdul El-Sayed are facing off in the August 4, 2026, Democratic Senate primary in the Great Lakes battleground state. ( )
El-Sayed, for his part, has maintained that the Israel lobby has amassed too much power in U.S. elections, preventing candidates from questioning the partnership or under what circumstances the U.S. should withhold its assistance.
«For too long our foreign policy has been handed to us by the likes of the state of Israel and AIPAC, who has made sure that both Democrats and Republicans are doing their bidding,» El-Sayed said on Tuesday.
Notably, El-Sayed has a modest foreign asset.
In response to criticisms that he had yet to release his tax returns, El-Sayed acknowledged that his family had been holding the evaluations abroad, delaying the process.
«Taxes get complicated,» El-Sayed replied when asked about the topic on a recent programming appearance. «My wife and her family own property abroad and getting all those tax forms is a thing.»
DEM CIVIL WAR HITS PRIMARY DEBATE STAGE IN FIERY BATTLEGROUND SHOWDOWN: ‘WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?’
Abdul El-Sayed, candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, speaks before U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes the stage at Mumford High School on May 3, 2026, in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
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As a part of his candidate report disclosures filed on June 2025, El-Sayed has reported a number of holdings. Among them: a salary from Wayne County worth $278,900 and an assortment of other assets totaling a net worth somewhere between $580,000 and $1.7 million.
As a part of that report, his wife reported holding up to $15,000 in real estate in India.
politics, lobbying, senate
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Israel’s leaders are publicly signaling that their country is prepared to strike Iran for a third time, while a U.S. official tells Fox News Digital that Washington remains closely coordinated with Jerusalem.
«The IDF is on high alert and prepared to resume the campaign, regain air superiority, and carry out an independent Israeli strike against Iran to eliminate threats — even for a third time,» Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Minister Israel Katz said Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli Air Force’s newest pilots.
«If we have to return, we will return with even greater force,» Katz added.
ISRAEL DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS STRIKES ON IRAN COULD RESUME SOON, SIGNALS CAMPAIGN NOT OVER
U.S. Central Command shared this footage in a July 8, 2026, press release about strikes against Iran. (CENTCOM)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned Thursday that Israel’s campaign against Iran was not finished and said Tehran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement reached with Washington.
«The war has not yet ended,» Netanyahu said at the air force ceremony. «Alongside the old challenges, new challenges are emerging. Axes are falling, and axes are rising. We are paying attention to this. We are prepared for every scenario.»
Two Israeli sources told CNN Friday that the Trump administration does not currently want Israel to participate in the latest U.S. strikes against Iran.
«Netanyahu would really want to join the U.S. strikes, but the U.S. doesn’t want Israel involved at the moment,» one of the sources told CNN.
A U.S. official denied the report, telling Fox News Digital, «This is fake news. The United States has a strong relationship with Israel, which contributed to the resounding success of Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury. We remain in close coordination with our Israeli partners.»
Israel first launched a major campaign against Iran in June 2025, with the United States later joining the fighting by striking the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. On Feb. 28, the two allies launched a new, coordinated military campaign against Iran.
While Israeli leaders are openly presenting the military as ready for another campaign, some Israeli officials and analysts say there is little appetite for renewed fighting unless it produces a clear strategic result.
The public warnings may overstate Israel’s desire to reenter the fighting, said Israeli analyst and journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, Nadav Eyal.
«On the record, Israel is signaling that it is prepared and even eager to strike Iran. But off the record, sources are saying that it is anything but that,» Eyal told Fox News Digital. «The reason is clear: Any Israeli strike in Iran will lead to Iranian ballistic missile attacks against Israel.»
US CLAWS BACK KEY CONCESSION TO IRAN AFTER FRESH ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, from left, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Trump insisted Egypt and Jordan will take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, dismissing the countries’ refusal to accept people from the war-shattered territory. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
Eyal said the domestic political consequences could make Netanyahu reluctant to begin another round of fighting, particularly as Israel approaches another election.
«If these strikes are meant to provide meaningful, strategic change, it is something the prime minister can sell to the public,» Eyal said. «But if the intention is only to use Israel as leverage, why should Israelis again experience a couple of weeks or more of sitting in safe rooms and losing their summer vacations, children’s day camps and summer camps? That could play out badly for the prime minister politically.»
«The truth is that Israel was not really enthusiastic about another strike,» he added. «That doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. If President Trump demands that Netanyahu join, it is very hard to see the Israelis saying no. But right now, I don’t see any passion for it.»
The diplomatic outreach continued even as Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over.
«The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!» Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
A source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News that Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran, in coordination with the United States, to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume.
On Thursday, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office, which said the two agreed to continue coordinating across several regional fronts. Trump briefed Netanyahu on American operations in the Gulf, the statement said.
NETANYAHU REJECTS REPORTS OF A RIFT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAYS THE TWO REMAIN ALIGNED ON IRAN
A satellite image shows damage at the control tower in the port of Chabahar, Iran, July 9, 2026, after the U.S. military said July 8, 2026, it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping. ( 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)
The military warnings came as the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence about what is described as a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.
The developments follow renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. naval officials said the maritime threat remained «severe.» U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reminded commercial vessels Friday that an expanded southern route through the strait remained open and that no controlling authority could require ships to pay a fee for passage.
A U.S. official told Fox News on background that Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels were «acts of terrorism» and constituted failed performance under the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.
«The United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,» the official said. «Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.»
Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer who now heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Israel had never regarded the memorandum as an adequate guarantee.
«From Israel’s perspective, the MOU was never a good deal,» Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital, speaking of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.
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CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid Iran war (U.S. Central Command on X)
«Israel should be on high alert, ready to face an Iranian attack and prepared to strike back if necessary,» he added.
For now, Israel’s leaders appear to be leaving Iran — and Washington — with little doubt that they are prepared to act. Whether the United States allows Israel to join the renewed campaign, however, could determine whether the latest confrontation remains limited or develops into another full-scale regional war.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
war with iran, iran, benjamin netanyahu, donald trump, defense
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