President Donald Trump and Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills recently sparred during a meeting at the White House, where Trump publicly called her out over her state’s refusal to adhere to his executive order protecting women’s sports. The president even said Maine would no longer receive federal funding if it did not comply with U.S. law.
The interaction concluded with Mills telling Trump they would hash out the disagreement in court, to which Trump said her career in politics would be over after easily winning the case. Trump said about his executive order, “The NCAA has complied immediately, by the way, that’s good.” Calling out Maine, he said, “But I understand Maine … is Maine here, the governor of Maine?”
Directly addressing Mills, Trump asked, “Are you not going to comply with it?” She responded that Maine would “comply with state and federal law.” The president then informed the governor, “Well, we are the federal law. Well, you better do it. You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Trump further claimed that residents in Maine are in support of his initiative, despite it being a blue state. “And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports, so you better come. You better comply because otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding.”
Interjecting, Mills said, “See you in court.” Trump retorted without missing a beat, “Good. I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a really easy one.” He further claimed her political career would effectively end after a losing challenge in court. “And enjoy your life after Governor because I don’t think you’ll be an elected politics,” he said.
“On Friday at a bipartisan meeting of governors, Donald Trump threatened to deny Maine school children federal funding unless we fall in line with his personal demands,” Mills’s campaign said in a message after the verbal altercation. “He even stated that he was ‘the law,’ never mind Congress or the states. I told him we’d see him in court.”
“I want to make one thing clear: Maine will not be intimidated by the president’s threats,” the governor’s campaign continued. “The work to push back against Trump and his agenda begins at the state level. Can you donate $10 to the Maine Democratic Party to make sure they have the resources to fight for our state?”
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Watch the interaction below:
“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump said on Thursday, further addressing the matter. “We’re not gonna give any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports.’ And I cannot believe they’re doing that.” The president doubled down, suggesting that no federal funding whatsoever would be provided to the state if the noncompliance continued. “We’re not gonna give them any federal funding — none whatsoever, until they clean that up,” he emphasized.