The president posted the request on the social media platform around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, demanding a "full throated apology from the governor herself."
AUGUSTA, Maine — In a post shared on social media Saturday morning, President Donald Trump asked for Maine Gov. Janet Mills to apologize over a dispute between the two regarding an executive order to ban transgender athletes from playing in girls' and women's sports.
The president's request was shared on Truth Social at about 7:30 a.m. and did not call out Mills by name, only referring to her as the governor of Maine. The post also made several unsubstantiated claims about the state's response to the Trump administration over the executive order and the verbal exchange between Mills and Trump one month ago.
Within hours of their exchange at the White House back in February, federal officials launched several investigations to determine whether the state violated Title IX laws or other federal policies. The president pledged to withhold federal funding from state institutions for any confirmed violations and has followed through in several cases.
"We have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases," the post states. "Therefore, we need a full throated apology from the Governor herself, and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the Federal Government again, before this case can be settled. I’m sure she will be able to do that quite easily."
Mills issued a statement the night of their White House exchange and after state officials were notified about the first of several investigations launched by federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“I have spent my career – as a District Attorney, as Attorney General, and now as Governor – standing up for the rule of law in Maine and America. To me, that is fundamentally what is at stake here: the rule of law in our country," Mills said in the statement. “No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold Federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will. It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold."
The president also claimed in the Truth Social post Saturday that the "State of Maine has apologized for their Governor's strong, but totally incorrect, statement about men playing in women's sports while at the White House," but it was not clear what the nature or origin of the alleged apology was, and no details were provided.
NEWS CENTER Maine reached out to the governor's office for comment and to verify several claims made in the president's social media post but has not yet heard back.
- Gov. Mills and President Trump spar over Maine's compliance with order
- Attorney General Aaron Frey outlines strategy to combat Trump funding threats
- What made the Mills-Trump exchange go viral?
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