Platner Accuser Blasts New York Times, Says It ‘Twisted’ Her Story Into ‘Gift’ for His Campaign

A woman who accused a Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, Graham Platner, of physically hurting her is accusing New York Times reporters of leaving key information out of her story and turning an article about the embattled candidate’s behavior into a “gift” for his campaign. On Thursday, the Times published a story saying three of the candidate’s ex-girlfriends had described “toxic” relationships with Mr. Platner, which it said had been unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching. Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Mr. Platner between 2013 and 2015 and was one of only two women quoted by name, told the paper that the Senate hopeful had been “rough with her” and grabbed her hard enough to leave marks, though he never punched her. The Times said that it could not corroborate her claims and that Ms. Fifield — whom it described as a “Virginia conservative” — said she did not expect her friends to corroborate her allegations.In a Friday morning post on X, Ms. Fifield excoriated the Times, asking, “Why does it say ‘nobody could corroborate’ when I offered them sources that COULD corroborate? Why did they include an out of context quote from a friend joking ‘do not call Graham’ after I called off my wedding? (Because she knew I would never). Where were the screenshots they’d said they would use? Or the mention that I’d supported local democrats and that most of my family (and husband) are liberal? The editors said it was too much, they explained.”Ms. Fifield said she whad been initially reluctant to share her story, but that the reporters told her that they had spoken to other women who were “terrified” to tell their stories and that they needed to “band together.” “WE will help you. We will protect you. Men can’t keep getting away with this,” she said the Times’s reporters told her. “They connected me to two of the other victims so we wouldn’t feel so alone. I insisted to each of them that I trusted the NYT journalists and that we were doing the right thing despite their (sadly very accurate) sense that something was wrong.”Ms. Fifield said she “bucked all advice from my friends (and resisted my conservative bias) and decided to fully trust the Times journalists.” She wrote that the reporters asked her not to talk to other outlets about her story, and after an initial interview, repeatedly reached out to her to ask for more information.“They kept coming back to us saying the editors needed more. I needed to go on the record (okay). We need more screenshots (okay). I met every bench mark they set, eager to provide more sources or evidence as needed,” she wrote. When the story was published, Ms. Fifield said, she was surprised to see it lacked detailed accusations from other women and asked why the article focused heavily on her story. She said the article also “failed to include any mention that I DID confide in multiple friends through the years that Graham had been abusive — long before he was running for office. Those friends confirm they told the Times so.”In the process of sharing her story, Ms. Fifield told the paper she was aware that it could seem as though she were a “bitter ex-girlfriend Republican trying to take down a Democrat.” But she insisted she would have shared the allegations if Mr. Platner were a Republican. One of Mr. Platner’s supporters, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, used the article’s focus on Ms. Fifield to dismiss the accusations, telling NOTUS, “Seems like a lot of nothing. I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seemed ‘unsettling’ was a woman who works for right-wing political operations.”Ms. Fifield called the Times’s story a “set up,” writing, “The journalists I trusted who convinced me to share a story I never wanted to tell methodically delayed and twisted this into a gift to the Platner campaign. Violating the trust of his victims. Shattering the trust I placed in them with the most vulnerable story of my life.”Mr. Platner denied Ms. Fifield’s allegation that he hurt her. His campaign also attacked Ms. Fifield, telling the Times she is a “lifelong G.O.P. operative who’s dedicated her career to electing Republicans.”Mr. Platner is seen as likely to win Maine’s Democratic primary next week, setting up a contest against the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, despite intense scrutiny of his behavior and disparaging comments made online. The Times did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Platner Accuser Blasts New York Times, Says It ‘Twisted’ Her Story Into ‘Gift’ for His Campaign

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