Lyndsey Fifield, one of the women who accused Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of abusive behavior, criticized The New York Times’ reporting on her initial allegations, arguing that the paper’s coverage contributed to her claims not being taken seriously.
Following a Monday Politico report about Platner’s alleged abuse, pressure has mounted on him to withdraw from the Senate race. In a a lengthy statement posted Tuesday on X, Fifield said she was not surprised her initial claims were not taken seriously and pushed back against the Times’ reporting that it “could not corroborate” certain aspects of her story. She said she provided reporters with extensive documentation and numerous potential witnesses, but that many were never contacted.
“I actually understand why Democrat leaders didn’t take our stories seriously when the Times reported them in June but are taking them seriously now,” Fifield wrote. “It was by design.”
Fifield said she supplied contact information for five friends, roomates who she said witnessed Platner allegedly stalking her, diary entries, emails to a landlord documenting her decision to move, screenshots of conversations discussing the alleged incidents and the names of former partners and others she believed could corroborate her account. She alleged the Times contacted only two of the five friends she identified—people she said could verify her relationship timeline but not the alleged abuse itself—and failed to reach out to several other witnesses she recommended.
“I gave them the contact information for five friends. They called the two who I clarified would not know about the abuse,” Fifield added. “They simply did not call the other three.”
Fifield said she also offered reporters the names of former roommates who remembered Platner allegedly waiting outside her home, as well as her former fiancé and priest, whom she said she had previously told about the alleged abuse during premarital counseling. She claimed reporters declined to interview them.
“As the weeks dragged on I stopped trying to give them evidence because the amount I had already given them seemed to overwhelm them,” she wrote.
Fifield argued the Times’ statement that it “could not corroborate” her account left readers with the impression there was little supporting evidence, when she believes that substantial corroborating material existed but was not fully pursued. She also noted that she and another accuser, Jenny Racicot, had never met or spoken but independently described what she characterized as similar patterns of intimate partner violence, coercive control and love bombing.
“But tell me again how they ‘could not corroborate,’” Fifield wrote.
The renewed criticism comes as scrutiny of Platner intensified following a report published in Politico on Monday. The aforementioned Racicot made an allegation that Platner sexually assaulted her in 2021. Platner has denied any wrongdoing.
The fallout increased on Tuesday when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who had supported Platner’s Senate campaign, called on the candidate to withdraw.
“I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine,” Sanders said in a statement obtained by CNN. “In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside.”
The New York Times has previously defended its reporting on Platner, saying its story accurately reflected the accounts gathered by its reporters and was reported according to the newspaper’s editorial standards.
“The Times’s article on June 4 brought to light a pattern of unsettling behavior by Graham Platner and included many of the details that women shared with us that were on the record and confirmable,” a spokesperson for the Times told TheWrap Tuesday. “The article also provided readers with context about what the women were and were not willing to share at the time. It was a revealing and sensitive piece of reporting that helped Maine voters and others learn more about Platner and his candidacy. Politico advanced this public understanding with even more information that they independently reported.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, confidential support is available through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or via online chat at RAINN.org.
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