A Democratic Party campaign strategist who recently went viral for doing damage control for Graham Platner amid his public sexting scandals has past writings that include comments about sending and receiving «nudes» and a footnote in a puberty guide for boys that he wrote, which referenced using images of his own penis.

Morris Katz, an up-and-coming New York City Democratic Party campaign strategist credited with being a major factor in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s electoral upset last year, wrote on the Medium blogging platform in 2019, amid a separate Democratic Party sexting scandal, that he had both «sent» and «received nudes.» Katz also authored a 2020 puberty guide for boys that included, on page 17, a footnote saying that he initially considered using «images of my penis» to illustrate puberty before the publisher said it was inappropriate.

The resurfaced writings have drawn scrutiny over the last week from Maine Republicans after Katz was accused of trying to contain the fallout from the sexting scandal involving Platner that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women early in his marriage on Kik, an anonymous messaging app that has faced scrutiny over predatory behavior and child-safety concerns.

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The irony has not gone unnoticed by Republicans in Maine, who argue Katz’s past writings add another bizarre layer to a Platner campaign already struggling to move past allegations involving numerous scandals revolving around the candidate’s judgment.

Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, told Fox News Digital that the combination of Platner and Katz is «like a sort of weird horror story,» arguing that both men appear unable to recognize «the guardrails of decency.»

«Morris Katz thinking that he was going to call up and intimidate Genevieve McDonald shows how bad his judgement is — he was never going to succeed at that and the fact he didn’t have the instincts to know better is just the first red flag of many for him,» Savage told Fox News Digital. «The combination of Morris Katz and Graham Platner is this weird horror story where neither one of them really understands the guardrails on decency. Neither one of them can recognize when there is a boundary.»

A Republican strategist, who is from rural Maine but wanted to remain anonymous when speaking to Fox News Digital, said the Katz controversy shows national progressive operatives are using Maine as a testing ground for an outsider-backed campaign that could ultimately weaken the seniority and resources incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins has delivered to struggling communities across the state.

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«This guy [Katz], who is unbelievably strange, comes in from out of state and tries to get this horribly flawed guy, like limping, pleading across the finish line. That is so arrogant,» the GOP strategist said. «The arrogance that it takes to come in and say, ‘I’m an out-of-state progressive socialist here to make some money off a flawed candidate bleeding in the polls,’ and then try to take that away from the people who really need it, you’re going to take away what Susan Collins has done and will be able to do for these people.»

Susan Collins (left) and Graham Platner (right). (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images ; Sophie Park/Getty Images)

Platner’s campaign has been dogged by controversies since he emerged as a progressive challenger in Maine’s closely watched Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Some of the most recent firestorms have centered on reports alleging Platner was abusive to an ex-girlfriend and that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women early in his marriage on the platform Kik. Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, reportedly disclosed the messages to campaign officials during an internal vetting process, and the campaign has acknowledged the messages existed while arguing the matter was addressed privately between Platner and his wife.

SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT

The controversy intensified after reports that Platner still had an active profile on Kik, an anonymous messaging app that has faced criticism from child-safety groups and law enforcement officials. The profile reportedly featured a shirtless mirror selfie of Platner with a towel around his waist, which Republican staffers later appeared to mock outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee by showing up in towels.

Republican staffers, including National Republican Senatorial Committee staffers, protest outside the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., wearing towels to mock Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s reported Kik profile photo. (Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News Digital)

Platner had already faced scrutiny over a tattoo that critics identified as a Nazi-linked symbol, which he later covered up. Platner has said he was unaware of the symbol’s association with Nazis when he got the tattoo years ago, although McDonald has contested he has been aware of its meaning for some time.

Platner also apologized after old Reddit posts resurfaced in which he made a series of inflammatory comments about rape, race, political violence, police, rural Americans and military veterans. Platner has said his views have changed and that some of his past comments reflected a darker period in his life after military service.

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More recently, Platner denied allegations from a former girlfriend who accused him of abusive behavior, calling the claims politically motivated. His campaign has accused critics and national media outlets of focusing on private matters and personal attacks rather than the issues affecting Maine voters.

Fox News Digital reached out to Katz, the Platner campaign, Fight Agency, Mamdani’s team and McDonald for comment.

An Obama-appointed federal judge who previously blocked President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order has again dealt a major setback to the administration by striking down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa payment requirement and declaring the policy unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin of Massachusetts ruled Monday that the Trump administration lacked the authority to impose the hefty payment on employers seeking new H-1B visas, finding that the requirement amounted to a tax that only Congress has the constitutional power to impose.

In Monday’s 42-page decision, Sorokin sided with a coalition of 20 states that challenged Trump’s September 2025 proclamation creating a new $100,000 payment requirement for employers filing petitions for foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers. Approximately 65,000 foreign workers are issued a H-1B visa each year.

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Before Trump’s proclamation, employers typically paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in filing fees to sponsor an H-1B worker, depending on the type of application and the size of the company.

The administration had argued that the measure was necessary to curb abuse of the visa system and protect American workers.

Trump’s proclamation stated that the H-1B program had been exploited to replace U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign labor and that the new payment would help address those concerns.

Sorokin rejected the administration’s legal justification, finding that the Immigration and Nationality Act gives presidents broad authority over the entry of noncitizens but does not authorize them to impose taxes.

«While the Executive has broad discretion over the admission and exclusion of aliens, … that discretion is not boundless,» Sorokin wrote, referring to previous case law.

Sorokin concluded that the payment functioned as a tax rather than a permissible immigration restriction.

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«The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,» Sorokin wrote.

He further rejected the administration’s argument that the payment requirement was simply another immigration restriction, bluntly stating: «Taxes are not ‘restrictions.’»

Beyond the constitutional concerns, Sorokin also found that federal agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by implementing the policy without notice-and-comment rule making and concluded that the agencies exceeded their statutory authority.

As a remedy, Sorokin declared the policy unlawful and vacated it in its entirety.

Signage for the U.S. Department of State is displayed outside its headquarters in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP)

Sorokin, a Yale and Columbia Law School graduate, was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2013 and confirmed by the Senate in 2014. Last year, Sorokin was the fourth judge to issue a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship. He ruled that the policy is likely unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. That dispute has since reached the Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

The administration is expected to appeal Sorokin’s decision, setting up another legal battle over the scope of presidential authority in immigration matters and the limits of executive power.

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«President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,» White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. «The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal.»

In a separate challenge filed in December 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington declined to block the policy after dismissing claims from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the additional H-1B charge violated federal immigration law.

Un avión de combate francés que opera bajo mando de la OTAN derribó este lunes un dron que había penetrado en el espacio aéreo de Letonia tras aproximarse desde territorio ruso.

Según informó el ministro de Defensa letón, Raivis Melnis, la decisión de neutralizar la aeronave fue tomada por el mando de la OTAN después de evaluar la situación en la zona. El aparato fue destruido cerca de la localidad de Berzgale, a pocos kilómetros de la frontera con Rusia. Las autoridades indicaron que no hubo víctimas ni daños materiales.

De acuerdo con información oficial, los aviones despegaron desde la base aérea de Siauliai, en el norte de Lituania, y derribaron el dron alrededor de las 10:00 de la mañana, hora local.

El Ejército letón señaló que se trató de “un vehículo aéreo no tripulado extranjero que ingresó al espacio aéreo letón como resultado de la guerra electrónica rusa”.

La ministra de Relaciones Exteriores de Letonia, Baiba Braze, agradeció la actuación de las fuerzas aliadas y escribió en redes sociales: “¡Gracias a nuestros aliados franceses por derribar el dron que ingresó al espacio aéreo letón!”.

Aunque todavía no se ha precisado el modelo del dron ni se ha determinado oficialmente quién lo operaba, el incidente marca un precedente para Letonia. De acuerdo con información publicada por The Washington Post, se trata de la primera ocasión en que la OTAN ordena el derribo de un dron sobre territorio letón.

Desde el inicio de la invasión rusa de Ucrania, los gobiernos de Europa del Este han denunciado repetidos incidentes relacionados con drones, misiles y operaciones de guerra electrónica cerca de sus fronteras.

Los últimos meses han estado marcados por varios episodios similares. Estonia, Lituania y Rumania han registrado incursiones o caídas de drones en zonas próximas a Ucrania, generando respuestas de emergencia y cuestionamientos sobre la capacidad de defensa aérea de la región.

En Lituania, por ejemplo, una incursión aérea reciente provocó medidas extraordinarias de seguridad para proteger a las máximas autoridades del país. En Rumania, un dron impactó contra una zona residencial cercana a la frontera ucraniana y dejó varios heridos.

El incidente de este lunes llega además en un momento particularmente sensible para Letonia. El país viene atravesando un intenso debate sobre la seguridad nacional después de varios episodios relacionados con aeronaves no tripuladas.

La preocupación se profundizó durante el período previo a las últimas elecciones nacionales, cuando diversos drones terminaron cayendo dentro del territorio letón. Aquellos hechos derivaron en una crisis política que desembocó en cambios dentro del Gobierno y cuestionamientos a la conducción del área de defensa.

Para los países bálticos —Letonia, Estonia y Lituania— la guerra en Ucrania representa una amenaza directa debido a su proximidad geográfica con Rusia y Bielorrusia. Los tres Estados integran la OTAN desde 2004 y han impulsado una política de fuerte respaldo a Kiev desde el inicio del conflicto.

La misión aérea que permitió derribar el dron forma parte precisamente del dispositivo permanente de vigilancia que la alianza mantiene sobre el espacio aéreo báltico. Aviones de distintos países aliados rotan periódicamente para garantizar la protección de la región.

El episodio también volvió a abrir un debate estratégico dentro de Europa: cómo responder de manera eficaz al creciente uso de drones en conflictos modernos.

Según explicó The Washington Post, muchos gobiernos europeos consideran que utilizar aviones de combate y misiles de alto costo para destruir aparatos relativamente baratos plantea interrogantes sobre la sostenibilidad de estos sistemas de defensa.

Como respuesta, varios países han comenzado a invertir en nuevas tecnologías antidrones, sistemas de detección temprana y capacidades de guerra electrónica. Letonia, por ejemplo, planea desplegar más unidades especializadas a lo largo de su frontera con Rusia y Bielorrusia para interceptar amenazas de este tipo antes de que ingresen en profundidad a su territorio.

Mientras continúan los ataques con drones tanto en Ucrania como dentro de Rusia, los países de la OTAN observan con atención cualquier incidente en sus fronteras. El derribo ocurrido este lunes en Letonia refleja hasta qué punto la guerra ha ampliado sus efectos más allá del campo de batalla y se ha convertido en una preocupación permanente para la seguridad europea.