{"id":74247,"date":"2026-05-31T10:59:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T15:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/graham-platners-wife-campaign-video-statement-responding-to-infidelity-allegations-widely-panned-by-critics\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:59:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T15:59:54","slug":"graham-platners-wife-campaign-video-statement-responding-to-infidelity-allegations-widely-panned-by-critics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/graham-platners-wife-campaign-video-statement-responding-to-infidelity-allegations-widely-panned-by-critics\/","title":{"rendered":"Graham Platner&#8217;s wife campaign video statement responding to infidelity allegations widely panned by critics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Graham Platner&#8217;s wife Amy Gertner came out to defend her husband&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/elections\/senate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate campaign<\/a> Saturday, but X reactions to the five-minute video are rebuking it as damage control that did not dispute recent allegations against the Maine Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So it makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there&#8217;s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on \u2014 like healthcare and education and childcare,&#8221; Gertner said hours after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/graham-platners-wife-flagged-sexually-explicit-texts-to-his-senate-campaign-628ec832\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported that Platner exchanged sexual text messages with several women after he and Gertner were married.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Being newly married is hard. Being newly married and going through infertility is hard. Being newly married, going through infertility, and a Senate campaign is hard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The wife speaking for her husband after the surfacing of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/former-biden-aide-sounds-alarm-democratic-party-backing-platner-scandal-deepens-dangerous-game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">allegations against him<\/a> \u2013 and not the candidate himself \u2013 was seized on by critics and social media users replying to the video post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/spurned-spouses-cash-north-carolina-homewrecker-law-turns-cheating-courtroom-jackpot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>SPURNED SPOUSES CASH IN AS NORTH CAROLINA\u2019S &#8216;HOMEWRECKER&#8217; LAW TURNS CHEATING INTO A COURTROOM JACKPOT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Graham Platner admitted to sexually explicit text messages with over a dozen women and having an account on a \u2018predator paradise\u2019 child exploitation app, then had his wife \u2013 a victim of his deviant actions \u2013 defend it,&#8221; National Republican Senatorial Committee press secretary Samantha Cantrell told Fox News Digital on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News Digital reached out to Platner&#8217;s campaign for a response but they did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It looks and sounds like a hostage video,&#8221; one X user responded to the video. &#8220;Blink twice if you need rescuing, Amy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The controversy comes as Platner, a progressive oyster farmer and military veteran running to unseat moderate incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has drawn support from national Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who previously praised him by saying, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LarryOConnor\/status\/2060852254568046861?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">That\u2019s my kind of man<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/top-off-the-wall-reddit-posts-haunting-graham-platners-maine-senate-bid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER\u2019S MAINE SENATE BID<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t even know if I have the right words to describe what we&#8217;ve been going through, but our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham&#8217;s personal counselor helps, and we work on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/health\/mental-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mental health<\/a> every day,&#8221; Gertner added.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;No marriage is perfect, and I don\u2019t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage, and I want to be married to Graham.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But X users rebuked the use of the wife to defend the Senate campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s not your wife\u2019s job to defend your infidelity, creep,&#8221; writer <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/emzanotti\/status\/2060922998819881046?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emily Zanotti wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The big problem here is that this story only covers what exists out there: potentially dozens of emails, text messages, and videos Platner sent to who-knows-how-many women, which the campaign is now praying aren\u2019t next to be leaked,&#8221; she added in another post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/top-off-the-wall-reddit-posts-haunting-graham-platners-maine-senate-bid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TOP OFF-THE-WALL REDDIT POSTS HAUNTING GRAHAM PLATNER\u2019S MAINE SENATE BID<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another X user, who is a self-proclaimed 2028 Kamala Harris for president supporter, denounced the fact a campaign &#8220;has forced his wife to make a #hostage video,&#8221; urging &#8220;Amy, please reach out to .@MEStatePolice so they can remove his firearms from your home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Shame on Graham for putting her in this position,&#8221; another poster wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the blowback, Gertner did stress they have &#8220;a great marriage.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But critics note the video did little to answer allegations surrounding the Democrat Senate hopeful, particularly with the admission of mental health and infidelity struggles in a still-new marriage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have incredible empathy for a woman who\u2019s just had a miscarriage having to make a video defending her husband\u2019s infidelities,&#8221; Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts wrote on X. &#8220;But a man so damaged by combat \u2013 according to him and his family \u2013 that he\u2019s said and done destructive things for decades needs to recover, not run for Senate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/gisele-fetterman-lambasts-terrible-media-says-journalists-bombarded-her-when-husband-sick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>GISELE FETTERMAN LAMBASTS &#8216;TERRIBLE&#8217; MEDIA, SAYS JOURNALISTS BOMBARDED HER WHEN HUSBAND WAS SICK<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Gertner&#8217;s video statement confirmed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/platner-called-ptsd-excuse-bull-2020-post-cites-struggle-explain-online-controversies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mental health questions<\/a> and notably did not deny the reporting.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I knew the man that I married is wonderful and dynamic and probably a genius,&#8221; Gertner said. &#8220;I knew the man that I married had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/maine-senate-candidate-cites-combat-trauma-when-confronted-terrible-posts-about-sexual-assault\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">been through an immense amount<\/a> of violent active combat. He&#8217;s been in therapy for years. I just I admire the f&#8212; out of him.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So when there are news articles about our marriage, it&#8217;s just extra sh&#8212;-. Can I say that online? I hope I can.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier Saturday, Platner\u2019s campaign confirmed the controversial text exchanges to Politico following a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/elections\/graham-platners-wife-flagged-sexually-explicit-texts-to-his-senate-campaign-628ec832\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a> that noted a former campaign aide seeking to get ahead of opposition research leaked the damning allegations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/democrats-selling-soul-embrace-platner-rude-awakening-maine-voters-gop-lawmaker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DEMOCRATS &#8216;SELLING THEIR SOUL&#8217; TO EMBRACE PLATNER ARE IN FOR RUDE AWAKENING WITH MAINE VOTERS: GOP LAWMAKER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They\u2019re trying to make this woman a scapegoat when she was clearly the canary in a coal mine,&#8221; Watts added in another X post, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/shannonrwatts\/status\/2061064092656259436?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sharing a Facebook message<\/a> from alleged whistleblower Genevieve McDonald, who rebuked those defending Platner&#8217;s campaign: &#8220;We cannot be this painfully stupid.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So I think I&#8217;m feeling angry today, and I don&#8217;t normally make public statements, but it&#8217;s really important for me to tell all of you out there \u2014 especially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/platner-hot-seat-maine-voters-rip-horrible-comments-reddit-scandal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">people who are voting in<\/a> Maine \u2014 that I think it&#8217;s shameful behavior to spend time and energy and resources on negative ads and negative stories on Graham when all he&#8217;s trying to do is improve the lives of people who work for a living,&#8221; Gertner added.<\/p>\n<p>The irony of rebuking &#8220;attacks&#8221; was not lost on critics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Have you read your husband\u2019s campaign attacks, press releases and X posts?&#8221; former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell wrote on X, replying to the campaign video post. &#8220;You think you all get a free ride to brutally attack others and not get criticized yourself?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/susan-collins-shrugs-off-attacks-democrats-trump-says-maine-voters-dont-vote-party-line\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>SUSAN COLLINS SHRUGS OFF ATTACKS BY DEMOCRATS AND TRUMP, SAYS MAINE VOTERS \u2018DON\u2019T VOTE PARTY LINE\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Put on your big girl pants \u2013 he\u2019s running for 1 of the 100 Senate seats,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Among the &#8220;attack&#8221; posts noted by Grenell was one from the same <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/grahamformaine\/status\/2060759716838400078?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Platner campaign X account<\/a> earlier in the day.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Susan Collins is spineless and corrupt,&#8221; the campaign post read. &#8220;And in 157 days, we will defeat her.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/opinion\/morning-glory-dems-bernie-backed-oyster-farmer-hands-susan-collins-massive-2026-advantage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>MORNING GLORY: DEMS&#8217; BERNIE-BACKED OYSTER FARMER HANDS SUSAN COLLINS A MASSIVE 2026 ADVANTAGE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Among the reactions to Gertner&#8217;s video post were shock that infidelity in their marriage allegedly happened so quickly after she admittedly &#8220;got married in 2023.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Also, critics noted the scripted and rehearsed reaction video where she admitted that &#8220;this is like my 20th take.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/dem-primary-turns-ugly-mills-unleashes-brutal-attack-sanders-backed-platner-crucial-senate-showdown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">withdrawal of Maine Democrat Gov.<\/a> Janet Mills from the primary, Platner is his party&#8217;s presumptive nominee in Maine\u2019s Senate race before the June 9 primary.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., is the most prominent Democrat publicly pushing back, calling Platner\u2019s Nazi-linked tattoo (Totenkopf\/SS Death\u2019s Head) &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/abc3340.com\/news\/nation-world\/house-democrat-jake-auchincloss-renews-call-for-party-to-reject-senate-hopeful-graham-platner-tattoo?teaserSource=trending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">personally disqualifying<\/a>&#8221; and urging Maine voters to reject him.<\/p>\n<p>Collins is in a vulnerable seat in the closely held Republican Senate majority 53-47, having served for 29 years since Jan. 3, 1997. Democrats have long targeted Collins for a potential Senate seat flip, particularly because of her checkered voting past that historically has not been a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump&#8217;s agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graham Platner&#8217;s wife Amy Gertner came out to defend her husband&#8217;s Senate campaign Saturday, but X reactions to the five-minute video are rebuking it as damage control that did not dispute recent allegations against the Maine Democrat. &#8220;So it makes me really angry, disappointed, and I find it really shameful that there&#8217;s a group of &#8230; <a title=\"Graham Platner&#8217;s wife campaign video statement responding to infidelity allegations widely panned by critics\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/31\/graham-platners-wife-campaign-video-statement-responding-to-infidelity-allegations-widely-panned-by-critics\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Graham Platner&#8217;s wife campaign video statement responding to infidelity allegations widely panned by critics\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}