Having been given the “abandon ship” order from the Kriegsmarine ship Graham Platner, MS NOW’s The Brief host Jen Psaki blasted the now-former Maine Senate candidate as a sexual predator who refuses to accept accountability for his actions. The problem for Psaki is that even after Lindsey Fifield’s original allegations of violence, she was one of the MS NOW allies Platner went running to in order to try to help him change the subject.
Psaki attributed Platner’s demise to Fifield and Jenny Racicot, “But now it is over. It's over. Because—not of all the people who are out there patting themselves on the back. And there are a lot of them on Twitter, believe me, it's driving me crazy. It's because of the bravery of the women who came forward to tell their stories. That is why.”
Jen Psaki abandoned the KMS Graham Platner last night, a noticeable difference in tone from her interview with him a month ago "Those are the women who should be patting themselves on the back. Nobody else. And tonight, the video that he recorded and posted online announcing his… pic.twitter.com/m8ZMsgHlKl
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 9, 2026
Introducing a portion of Platner’s announcement video, Psaki continued, “It is these women, and because there was no longer a path forward for Graham Platner. Once they did, of course, there wasn't. It is because of those women. Those are the women who should be patting themselves on the back. Nobody else. And tonight, the video that he recorded and posted online announcing his decision, which was more than 11 minutes long, and it took quite a long time to get to the point, showed us more of who Graham Platner actually is. Someone who, in the face of incredibly serious and extremely credible allegations, seemed to blame everyone but himself.”
That all sounds nice, but Fifield’s original allegations were published in The New York Times on June 4. Fifield’s condemnation of The New York Times for not including others' sexual assault allegations against Platner was posted to X on June 5. Psaki’s interview with Platner was on June 10, where she marveled at how Platner had managed to get “under Donald Trump’s skin," and together they ridiculed the idea that Trump was going to lecture anyone on morality. The only possible reference Psaki made to Fifield was extremely vague allusions to “allegations about the way you treated women you dated in the past.”
Psaki's June interview, for all intents and purposes, ignored Lyndsey Fifield, but here she claims "I started my career on the campaign trail. I was a campaign rat for many, many years through many campaigns, I have never witnessed a member of any political establishment,… pic.twitter.com/IptEVgCL32
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 9, 2026
Back in present day, Psaki continued:
But what you just heard, there is a part that really stuck out to me, which is repeated denials and a repeated blame game. Now, I worked in politics for a very long time. I started my career on the campaign trail. I was a campaign rat for many, many years through many campaigns. I have never witnessed a member of any political establishment, whatever the heck that means, forcing a woman to come forward and falsely accuse someone of sexual assault in order to tank a specific campaign. You know why? Because that doesn't happen. Because, again, it is so difficult for these women to come forward. Sometimes it takes years to come forward.
All that does is raise the question: Why didn’t Psaki press Platner on that when he was on her show?
Here is a transcript for the July 8 show:
MS NOW The Briefing with Jen Psaki
7/8/2026
9:02 PM ET
JEN PSAKI: But now it is over. It's over. Because—not of all the people who are out there patting themselves on the back. And there are a lot of them on Twitter, believe me, it's driving me crazy. It's because of the bravery of the women who came forward to tell their stories.
That is why. It is these women, and because there was no longer a path forward for Graham Platner. Once they did, of course, there wasn't. It is because of those women. Those are the women who should be patting themselves on the back. Nobody else. And tonight, the video that he recorded and posted online announcing his decision, which was more than 11 minutes long, and it took quite a long time to get to the point, showed us more of who Graham Platner actually is. Someone who, in the face of incredibly serious and extremely credible allegations, seemed to blame everyone but himself.
…
But what you just heard, there is a part that really stuck out to me, which is repeated denials and a repeated blame game. Now, I worked in politics for a very long time. I started my career on the campaign trail. I was a campaign rat for many, many years through many campaigns. I have never witnessed a member of any political establishment, whatever the heck that means, forcing a woman to come forward and falsely accuse someone of sexual assault in order to tank a specific campaign.
You know why? Because that doesn't happen. Because, again, it is so difficult for these women to come forward. Sometimes it takes years to come forward. Now, we already knew, thanks to the Washington Post, that Platner had struggled with this decision, in part because he believed he should have a say in the process to replace his name on the ballot, something that the Maine Democratic Party has said loud and clear, is not going to happen.
