INTERNACIONAL
Graham Platner’s wife campaign video statement responding to infidelity allegations widely panned by critics
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Graham Platner’s wife Amy Gertner came out to defend her husband’s Senate campaign Saturday, but X reactions to the five-minute video are rebuking it as damage control that did not dispute recent allegations against the Maine Democrat.
«So it makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on — like healthcare and education and childcare,» Gertner said hours after the Wall Street Journal reported that Platner exchanged sexual text messages with several women after he and Gertner were married.
«Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard. Being newly married, going through infertility, and a Senate campaign is hard.»
The wife speaking for her husband after the surfacing of allegations against him – and not the candidate himself – was seized on by critics and social media users replying to the video post.
SPURNED SPOUSES CASH IN AS NORTH CAROLINA’S ‘HOMEWRECKER’ LAW TURNS CHEATING INTO A COURTROOM JACKPOT
Senate candidate Graham Platner is under fire, but it was his wife Amy Gertner coming out with a controversial five-minute social media post by the campaign to denounce the ‘attacks’ while she did not deny the allegations of infidelity in a new marriage. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
«Graham Platner admitted to sexually explicit text messages with over a dozen women and having an account on a ‘predator paradise’ child exploitation app, then had his wife – a victim of his deviant actions – defend it,» National Republican Senatorial Committee press secretary Samantha Cantrell told Fox News Digital on Sunday.
Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign for a response but they did not immediately respond.
«It looks and sounds like a hostage video,» one X user responded to the video. «Blink twice if you need rescuing, Amy.»
The controversy comes as Platner, a progressive oyster farmer and military veteran running to unseat moderate incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has drawn support from national Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who previously praised him by saying, «That’s my kind of man.»
TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has called Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner her ‘kind of man,’ a statement seized on by critics after allegations of infidelity are surfacing. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images; Sophie Park/Getty Images)
«I don’t even know if I have the right words to describe what we’ve been going through, but our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham’s personal counselor helps, and we work on our mental health every day,» Gertner added.
«No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage, and I want to be married to Graham.»
But X users rebuked the use of the wife to defend the Senate campaign.
«It’s not your wife’s job to defend your infidelity, creep,» writer Emily Zanotti wrote on X.
«The big problem here is that this story only covers what exists out there: potentially dozens of emails, text messages, and videos Platner sent to who-knows-how-many women, which the campaign is now praying aren’t next to be leaked,» she added in another post.
TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER’S MAINE SENATE BID
Another X user, who is a self-proclaimed 2028 Kamala Harris for president supporter, denounced the fact a campaign «has forced his wife to make a #hostage video,» urging «Amy, please reach out to .@MEStatePolice so they can remove his firearms from your home.»
«Shame on Graham for putting her in this position,» another poster wrote on X.
Despite the blowback, Gertner did stress they have «a great marriage.»
But critics note the video did little to answer allegations surrounding the Democrat Senate hopeful, particularly with the admission of mental health and infidelity struggles in a still-new marriage.
«I have incredible empathy for a woman who’s just had a miscarriage having to make a video defending her husband’s infidelities,» Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts wrote on X. «But a man so damaged by combat – according to him and his family – that he’s said and done destructive things for decades needs to recover, not run for Senate.»
GISELE FETTERMAN LAMBASTS ‘TERRIBLE’ MEDIA, SAYS JOURNALISTS BOMBARDED HER WHEN HUSBAND WAS SICK
Gertner’s video statement confirmed the mental health questions and notably did not deny the reporting.
«I knew the man that I married is wonderful and dynamic and probably a genius,» Gertner said. «I knew the man that I married had been through an immense amount of violent active combat. He’s been in therapy for years. I just I admire the f— out of him.
«So when there are news articles about our marriage, it’s just extra sh—-. Can I say that online? I hope I can.»
Earlier Saturday, Platner’s campaign confirmed the controversial text exchanges to Politico following a report from The Wall Street Journal that noted a former campaign aide seeking to get ahead of opposition research leaked the damning allegations.
DEMOCRATS ‘SELLING THEIR SOUL’ TO EMBRACE PLATNER ARE IN FOR RUDE AWAKENING WITH MAINE VOTERS: GOP LAWMAKER
«They’re trying to make this woman a scapegoat when she was clearly the canary in a coal mine,» Watts added in another X post, sharing a Facebook message from alleged whistleblower Genevieve McDonald, who rebuked those defending Platner’s campaign: «We cannot be this painfully stupid.»
«So I think I’m feeling angry today, and I don’t normally make public statements, but it’s really important for me to tell all of you out there — especially people who are voting in Maine — that I think it’s shameful behavior to spend time and energy and resources on negative ads and negative stories on Graham when all he’s trying to do is improve the lives of people who work for a living,» Gertner added.
The irony of rebuking «attacks» was not lost on critics.
«Have you read your husband’s campaign attacks, press releases and X posts?» former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell wrote on X, replying to the campaign video post. «You think you all get a free ride to brutally attack others and not get criticized yourself?»
SUSAN COLLINS SHRUGS OFF ATTACKS BY DEMOCRATS AND TRUMP, SAYS MAINE VOTERS ‘DON’T VOTE PARTY LINE’
«Put on your big girl pants – he’s running for 1 of the 100 Senate seats,» he added.
Among the «attack» posts noted by Grenell was one from the same Platner campaign X account earlier in the day.
«Susan Collins is spineless and corrupt,» the campaign post read. «And in 157 days, we will defeat her.»
MORNING GLORY: DEMS’ BERNIE-BACKED OYSTER FARMER HANDS SUSAN COLLINS A MASSIVE 2026 ADVANTAGE
Among the reactions to Gertner’s video post were shock that infidelity in their marriage allegedly happened so quickly after she admittedly «got married in 2023.»
Also, critics noted the scripted and rehearsed reaction video where she admitted that «this is like my 20th take.»
After the withdrawal of Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills from the primary, Platner is his party’s presumptive nominee in Maine’s Senate race before the June 9 primary.
Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., is the most prominent Democrat publicly pushing back, calling Platner’s Nazi-linked tattoo (Totenkopf/SS Death’s Head) «personally disqualifying» and urging Maine voters to reject him.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Collins is in a vulnerable seat in the closely held Republican Senate majority 53-47, having served for 29 years since Jan. 3, 1997. Democrats have long targeted Collins for a potential Senate seat flip, particularly because of her checkered voting past that historically has not been a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump’s agenda.
midterm elections, senate, campaigning
INTERNACIONAL
Tras el anuncio de Irán de cerrar el estrecho de Ormuz, Trump amenaza con cobrar peaje en ese paso si no hay un acuerdo en 60 días
INTERNACIONAL
Pope Leo sends unmistakable message on immigrants during visit honoring America’s first saint
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Pope Leo XIV used a visit Saturday honoring St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, the first American saint and patron saint of immigrants, to deliver his latest appeal on behalf of them, asking Catholics to look to her example at a time when migration remains one of the defining issues of his emerging papacy.
The remarks came as Leo continues to make migration a central focus of his public ministry, a position that has sparked months of public friction with President Donald Trump over immigration and foreign policy.
«What could be more relevant today than a missionary charism dedicated to serving migrants?» Leo said during an evening prayer service in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, the northern Italian town where Cabrini was born.
The American-born pope prayed at Cabrini’s tomb and urged young Catholics to learn from the saint’s life of serving immigrants, many of whom had left their homelands in search of better opportunities.
POPE LEO XIV STRONGLY SUPPORTS US BISHOPS’ CONDEMNATION OF TRUMP IMMIGRATION RAIDS: ‘EXTREMELY DISRESPECTFUL’
Pope Leo XIV presides over a celebration at the parish of Santi Antonio Abate e Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, Saturday. The visit was part of his pastoral journey to nearby Pavia and marked the birthplace of Francesca Cabrini, the first U.S. saint and Patroness of Migrants. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
But Leo also invoked his predecessor, Pope Francis, whose own papacy was defined in part by calls to welcome migrants.
«Let us ask ourselves: if Mother Francesca were alive today, what would her missionary spirit tell her?» Leo said. «And what would a pope like Francis — who, as the son of Italian immigrants, made service to migrants one of the key priorities of his pontificate — ask of her?»
The comments are the latest in a series of migration-focused appearances that have helped define Leo’s first year as pope.
POPE LEO APPOINTS PRO-IMMIGRATION BISHOP TO DIOCESE HOME TO TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO
Pope Leo XIV greets faithful as he leaves the parish of Santi Antonio Abate e Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, Saturday. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
Last week, Leo traveled to Spain’s Canary Islands, a major destination for migrants departing West Africa, where he met migrants and called for greater efforts to welcome and integrate people fleeing hardship and conflict.
During that trip, Leo urged world leaders to create «legal and safe pathways» for migration and warned against reducing migrants to statistics.
Leo’s migration advocacy has frequently drawn criticism from Trump, who has accused the pontiff of venturing into politics and sharply disagreed with some of his comments on immigration and foreign affairs.
The public disagreements have become one of the most closely watched relationships between the Vatican and Washington during Leo’s papacy.
INCLUSIVE TONE OF NEW POPE ISN’T SITTING WELL WITH SOME IN THE ‘AMERICA FIRST’ MOVEMENT
Pope Leo XIV presides over a celebration at the parish of Santi Antonio Abate e Francesca Cabrini in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy, Saturday, during his pastoral journey to nearby Pavia. (Mario Tomassetti/Vatican Media)
Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to meet with Vatican officials and Italian leaders during a period of heightened tensions between the Holy See and the Trump administration.
Leo has rejected suggestions that his remarks are political attacks, arguing instead that his appeals stem from Catholic teaching on human dignity, peace and care for vulnerable people.
Saturday’s visit centered on Cabrini, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen and spent decades serving Italian immigrants through schools, hospitals and orphanages before her death in Chicago in 1917.
US CATHOLIC BISHOPS PRESIDENT SAYS DEPORTATIONS INSTILLING ‘FEAR’ IN ‘WIDESPREAD MANNER’: ‘CONCERNS US ALL’
Pope Leo XIV holds a private audience with Vice President J.D. Vance at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, May 19, 2025. (Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media)
The Vatican has also announced that Leo will travel to the Italian island of Lampedusa on July 4, a date likely to draw attention in the United States given the pope’s American roots.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Lampedusa has become one of Europe’s most recognizable migration flashpoints because of the thousands of migrants who attempt dangerous crossings from North Africa each year. The island also carries symbolic importance within the Catholic Church because it was the destination of Pope Francis’ first trip outside Rome after becoming pope in 2013.
Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack and Robert McGreevy, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
pope leo xiv, pope francis, italy, immigration, immigrant rights, donald trump, politics
INTERNACIONAL
Counterterrorism officials investigating after suspect goes on rampage in alleged hate attack: report
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Counterterrorism officials are investigating after a suspect went on a rampage in Scotland, leaving five men injured.
The attacks, which are believed to have been anti-Muslim, began near a mosque in Edinburgh where two men were injured just before 9 p.m. Friday, officials said, according to BBC News.
The suspect, who is a 36-year-old Scottish man, also allegedly attacked three other men in another part of the city.
None of the victims, who range in age from 22 to 39, have life-threatening injuries. Three of the victims were taken to the hospital.
FLORIDA MAN INDICTED FOR ALLEGEDLY PLOTTING MASS SHOOTING TARGETING JEWISH EMPLOYEES AT ADVOCACY ORGNAIZATION
Counterterrorism officials are investigating after a suspect went on a rampage in Edinburgh, leaving five men injured. (Ken Jack/Getty Images)
The suspect also allegedly attacked a car at a gas station, which was found with its windows smashed out and an axe inside, and he was seen pushing down shelves inside the station’s mart, BBC News reported.
He was also caught on surveillance video allegedly on the attack outside a pizzeria with a weapon, the outlet reported, adding that social media videos show havoc in other areas of the city as well.
«Officers responded to multiple reports of a fast-moving sequence of events across Edinburgh before arresting a man and public safety was our priority,» Police Scotland said in a statement.
UK COUNTERTERRORISM POLICE PROBE ANTISEMITIC ARSON ATTACK AS IRAN-LINKED GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY
The man was taken into custody around 9:30 p.m. local time and he remains there.
«This was a shocking attack and my first thoughts are with those who were injured and most directly affected,» Assistant Chief Constable Catriona Paton said.
Scottish police at an immigration protest in Glasglow this week. (Jacob Hughes/Sipa USA)
She added, «I want to send a clear message of support to all our communities that there is no place for racism or faith-based hate in a Scotland which is at its best when we stand together.»
The suspect allegedly told police when he was caught that he was «protecting the country,» BBC News reported.
«Extensive work is ongoing to establish all the circumstances,» Paton said. «We are being supported by Counter Terrorism Policing and working under the direction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Muslims at daily prayer in Edinburgh. (Jeff J Mitchell/Reuters)
The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the attack, saying the community is «rightly nervous and worried.»
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«This incident comes not long after racist pogroms on the streets of Belfast that targeted minority families, and is a direct consequence of political rhetoric that demonises entire communities,» the council added. «To our community: stay vigilant, look out for one another, and please report any Islamophobic hate crimes to the police.
united kingdom, europe, world, hate crime, islam, investigations, counter terrorism
Los equilibrios de la competencia y la cooperación entre Estados Unidos y China
Tras el anuncio de Irán de cerrar el estrecho de Ormuz, Trump amenaza con cobrar peaje en ese paso si no hay un acuerdo en 60 días
Pope Leo sends unmistakable message on immigrants during visit honoring America’s first saint
Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde: formaciones, hora y dónde ver por tv
La respuesta de Jésica Cirio frente a la difusión de videos privados: “Estoy a disposición de la Justicia”
Un banco de inversión ha usado a Reddit para estimar las increíbles ventas que GTA 6 tendrá en su lanzamiento
Patricia Bullrich: “El Presidente considera que Adorni dio una explicación razonable”
El Gobierno envía señales de que Adorni tiene las horas contadas para evitar que sesione el Senado
La secuencia del golazo de Messi para Argentina ante Argelia en el debut en el Mundial 2026 y los récords que rompió
GOP Gov DeWine urges Ohio to abolish the death penalty, says it is no longer a deterrent
POLITICA2 días agoEl lapidario posteo de Javier Milei contra Florencia Peña por la fake news sobre la muerte del papá de Messi
- POLITICA3 días ago
Un concejal peronista de Entre Ríos atacó a golpes a un intendente durante una sesión del Concejo Deliberante
- CHIMENTOS3 días ago
Dolor en el mundo del espectáculo por la muerte de una famosa actriz a los 35 años
