Graham Platner, a 41-year-old Maine Democratic Senate candidate and Marine veteran, told The Daily Beast Podcast that President Trump and Cabinet members should be investigated and punished for alleged abuses of power if Democrats regain control. Platner cited what he described as retribution against opponents, a Justice Department inquiry involving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and other actions he views as executive overreach. He defended his own record after past social-media posts and tattoo questions resurfaced and said he is running for the Senate to use oversight to hold the administration accountable.
Graham Platner Urges Probe of Trump, Says President and Cabinet Should Face Punishment for Alleged Abuses of Power
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images/Department of Justice
Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner told The Daily Beast Podcast that President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet should be investigated and, if warranted, punished for what Platner described as abuses of presidential power.
Calls for Accountability
Platner, a 41-year-old insurgent candidate endorsed by Bernie Sanders, said Democrats should move quickly to hold the president and his inner circle accountable if they regain power after the midterms. “There should not be a moment where we all just shake hands and decide that, OK, well, that was it. That was a weird little moment,” Platner told host Joanna Coles. “The crimes that have been committed must be investigated and punished.”
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“We should absolutely hold those who have broken the law and who are abusing their power accountable for doing just that.” — Graham Platner
Examples and Allegations
Platner pointed to what he called patterns of retribution against political opponents, citing a Justice Department inquiry related to actions involving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other examples he described as evidence of a broader lack of accountability. He also cited alleged strikes on Venezuela and what he characterized as an alleged abduction of that country's president on Jan. 3, framing these as examples of executive overreach.
“The president wants to reduce interest rates himself,” Platner said. “He wants to be in charge. He doesn’t like the fact that he has to go through somebody. And he’s just using the power of the office to target people who get in his way.” He added that comments such as the president’s threat to take over Greenland are signs that “the wheels have come off this presidency.”
“This is all absurd. It’s illegal. It’s unconstitutional, this kind of behavior. This is abusing power in its most obvious form,” Graham Platner said of President Donald Trump and his administration's actions. / Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images
White House Response
When contacted, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told The Daily Beast: “Anything said on the Daily Beast podcast is equivalent to screaming into the void. No one listens to this Trump Derangement Syndrome therapy session.”
Background and Controversies
Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine veteran who served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, is running for the Senate seat held by Republican Susan Collins and faces Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the Democratic primary. He said the Senate — particularly its oversight powers — would be an effective forum to investigate alleged wrongdoing. “Oversight is, I think, one of the most effective places to bring that about, which is one of the reasons I’m running for Senate,” he said.
Platner said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's campaign against Senator Mark Kelly is
The campaign has also weathered controversy. In October, old social-media and Reddit posts resurfaced, and critics asked Platner to explain tattoos that some connected to Nazi imagery. In deleted posts, he used profane language about police and in one exchange wrote that “White people aren’t as racist or stupid as Trump thinks” and added, “I’m afraid to tell you they actually are.” Platner has defended those comments as taken out of context and described critical vetting of old online posts as an “absurd litmus test.”
On a 2013 Reddit thread, Platner said he asked why some Black customers didn’t tip while working as a bartender; he described the exchange as an idle question he no longer considers meaningful. “If you have to go back 13 years to find one or two comments to take out of context, it’s probably not indicative of who someone is,” he told Coles.
Campaign Status
Despite the controversies, Platner remains competitive with Gov. Mills in polls. His campaign reported raising $4.7 million in the final quarter of 2025, Axios reported, a sign of momentum as he continues to push the accountability message.
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released multiple times a week; Platner’s remarks aired on that program.
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