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Fight, Don't Fold: Trump FTC Concedes Defeat In War On Media Matters

Media Matters has secured a complete and total victory in its case against the Federal Trade Commission (Media Matters v. FTC).

In an effort to avoid another damaging decision from a federal court of appeals, the FTC sought to withdraw its appeal of the preliminary injunction awarded to Media Matters to halt the FTC’s retaliatory actions. Media Matters made clear that it would oppose that gamesmanship. Facing the prospect of a loss from what’s often considered the nation’s second highest court, the FTC ultimately submitted to a legally binding settlement agreement with Media Matters, withdrawing its blatantly retaliatory demands and committing to forgo ever reissuing or issuing a substantially similar Civil Investigative Demand to Media Matters.

The FTC also stated — in writing — that Media Matters is not the target of any investigation and that any similar future litigation would occur in D.C. The agreement — and the decisions Media Matters won in the district court and the court of appeals — offers a roadmap for other newsgathering and nonprofit organizations facing, or at risk of, government retaliation.

Nathaniel Zelinsky, Senior Counsel at the Washington Litigation Group, explained: “At issue in the case was whether the Trump administration’s Federal Trade Commission could misuse the machinery of the federal government to investigate, exhaust, and ultimately silence the nonprofit watchdogs that hold government and powerful platforms accountable. Media Matters won legal decisions in the District of Columbia District Court and the D.C. Circuit that provide a roadmap for anyone who is similarly targeted. This historic victory shows that the rule of law matters — and that courts can and do hold this government accountable.”
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said: “The FTC agreed to this historic settlement agreement after it became clear the FTC had misled the courts. Our victory shows the importance of holding power to account and the importance of fighting instead of folding.
“This extends well beyond Media Matters, though. Washington Litigation Group’s excellent lawyering helped to secure this victory and establish precedent that will protect others targeted with retaliatory investigations in nakedly unlawful ways.”
Thomas Berry, Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the CATO Institute, who observed the appeals proceedings, said: “It is likely that the injunction against the FTC will be affirmed by the panel, which would be a win for free speech and a blow against the use of burdensome information requests as a tool of government intimidation.” He added, “It now appears the FTC is afraid of setting a bad precedent for themselves based on how oral arguments went."

In June of 2025, Media Matters for America sued to block the U.S. FTC's retaliatory investigation into the organization. Subsequently, MMFA filed for a preliminary injunction to block the FTC investigation from moving forward, documenting ongoing, irreparable harm to its ability to exercise its First Amendment rights. In August 2025, the U.S. District Court for Washington, DC, granted a temporary injunction blocking the FTC from enforcing a civil investigative demand against Media Matters, ruling, among other things, that the agency likely acted with “retaliatory animus,” and that “Media Matters engaged in quintessential First Amendment activity when it published an online article criticizing Mr. Musk and X.”

In October of 2025, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to stay the lower court decision, temporarily preventing the investigation from moving forward. Circuit Judges Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins found the FTC had not shown it was likely to win on the merits. In April, at a brutal oral argument for the government in which the judges relentlessly grilled the FTC’s counsel, Judge Millett demanded that the FTC explain whether there was something “radically left” “about being anti-Nazi.” Shortly thereafter, the FTC sought to withdraw its own appeal, and Media Matters stated it would oppose strategic gamesmanship. In response, the FTC ultimately agreed to a binding agreement that guarantees it will never reissue the investigative demands to Media Matters and confirms that Media Matters is not a target.

Media Matters president Angelo Carusone discussed the organization's victory on MSNOW on May 4:

Why Trump's 'Seashellgate' Prosecution Of James Comey Is Dead On Arrival

When the first James Comey indictment dropped last September, I called it the single most shameful act in the Department of Justice’s history. My singular outrage led me to devote five consecutive Substacks that week to cataloguing the wreckage: the legal infirmities, the procedural malpractice, and the naked political origins.

That case duly crashed and burned, dismissed as a legal nullity after a series of courtroom debacles that would have been farcical if the stakes hadn’t been so grave. Rather than accept the rebuke, the DOJ has doubled down with a bespoke indictment, custom-built for one defendant and one audience.

Even as that failed indictment remains technically on appeal, the DOJ now has brought a second indictment of the former FBI director in a different district on an entirely different theory. The charge, if anything, is even more bankrupt and tawdry than the first.

Of course, the filing does not come as the same sort of surprise this time. In his less than 4 weeks as Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche has quickly reached new lows of lawlessness and shameless servility to the president. It was entirely predictable that he was out front at the press conference preening about the latest charges against one of Trump’s most avowed enemies.

But the charge, if less stunning, is no less appalling. And the press conference included a series of lies and half-truths that not long ago would have been stunning to hear from the lips of the nation’s highest federal law enforcement officer.

Contrary to the multiple whoppers Blanche told at his press conference Tuesday afternoon, this is decidedly not a normal case nor one the Justice Department would bring against any other defendant. Moreover, like last week’s indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, it offers literally no evidence of the core alleged conduct, and the theory embedded in the charging document actually contradicts what Trump and his circle of sycophants have been publicly claiming for nearly a year.

The facts are almost too silly to state with a straight face, but here they are. Last May, James Comey was on vacation on the North Carolina coast. He came upon—did not arrange, did not commission, did not construct—a collection of seashells that someone else had assembled on the beach in the pattern “86 47.” He photographed it and posted it on Instagram with the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”

That’s the case, the entire godforsaken case.

On that filament, the Department has tried to balance a federal indictment for threatening the life of the President of the United States.

Comey responded to the indictment Tuesday with calm resolve: “I’m still innocent. I’m still not afraid. And I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let’s go.”

The charging statutes are 18 U.S.C. § 871(a), which prohibits knowingly and willfully threatening the life of or bodily harm to the president, and § 875(c), which prohibits transmitting such a threat via interstate commerce.

Both are real statutes that real prosecutors charge in real cases. Actual examples include the defendant who mailed President Reagan a series of letters specifying the exact date, time, and place he planned to kill him. Or the security guard who told a coworker he was going to Washington to kill President Nixon, and repeated it days later with a Secret Service agent listening from the trunk of his patrol car.

As these examples illustrate, § 871 carries a high intent requirement. To gain a conviction, the DOJ will have to prove that Comey “knowingly and willfully” transmitted a threat to kill or harm Trump.

Compare those to the wan facts in the Comey indictment. Most glaringly, the Department has not proffered a shred of evidence to suggest that in posting the found seashell pattern to his Instagram account, Comey was knowingly threatening the president.

To the contrary, the record points entirely the other way. Within hours of the post, Comey sat voluntarily with Secret Service agents and told them flatly that he had no idea the image would be read as a threat; that he understood “86 47” as a political sentiment, not a call to violence; and that he opposed violence of any kind. He deleted the post the same day.

Knowing all this for nearly a year, the government, or really Blanche, decided now to bring the charge that surely delighted Trump. But it included no evidence of the core element in the statute, namely, Comey’s intent.

Pressed on the point Tuesday, Blanche prevaricated. A reporter asked Blanche directly, how do you prove intent when Comey said he associated the numbers with politics, not violence, and took the post down immediately, Blanche had nothing to offer. He fumfered a generic, “Witnesses, documents, the defendant himself.” In other words, "beats me."

And in fact, there is no answer. I wrote about the SPLC indictment that the absence of any fraudulent statement is a hole you can drive a truck through; the same is true here of the absence of any proof of intent to threaten.

The paucity of proof of intent also puts the lie to both Blanche’s and Kash Patel’s assurances that this indictment is the fruit of a painstaking, eleven-month federal investigation marshaling the full resources of the FBI. Nonsense. Every fact necessary to evaluate this case was on the table within forty-eight hours of Comey’s post: the photograph, the caption, the deletion, and Comey’s on-the-record disavowal to federal agents. The three-page indictment adds nothing. The eleven months were not spent developing evidence. They were spent waiting for the right moment and the right acting attorney general.

No less than the first indictment, this filing is destined to go nowhere.

A brick wall stands only a few feet from the indictment in the form of the leading Supreme Court case interpreting § 871. Watts v. United States arose from the Vietnam War era. A man at a political rally declared, “If they ever make me carry a rifle, the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J.” The Supreme Court reversed Watts’s conviction under § 871. The Court held that Watts’s statement was political hyperbole protected by the First Amendment.

Watts presents an insurmountable barrier to the Comey charge. The government knows that full well. It knows, therefore, that it should never have brought the case, which requires (or did before the Trump DOJ shredded the Principles of Federal Prosecution) a determination that a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt is probable.

If “the first man I want in my sights is LBJ” spoken aloud at a rally does not constitute a true threat, a photograph of seashells on a public beach—arranged by a stranger, captioned as a curiosity, posted and deleted within hours, and absent any additional proof of intent—is D.O.A. The courts will never countenance it, even if the Department is banking on a sympathetic jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina.

It’s one of the more heartening signs of a broader pushback against authoritarianism that Trump’s reprisal prosecutions have consistently run aground. In this crucial area, the rule of law has, so far, withstood the rule of one. I expect it will here as well. But that has to turn on the continued vigilance of courts and all of us, even when confronting ridiculous conduct from DOJ that should, and in better times would, collapse of its own weight.

To close with the words of the unjustly charged defendant who today appeared in court and was briefly placed under arrest, “It’s really important that all of us remember this is not who we are as a country…Keep the Faith.”

Harry Litman is a former United States Attorney and the executive producer and host of the Talking Feds podcast. He has taught law at UCLA, Berkeley, and Georgetown and served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Clinton Administration. Please consider subscribing to Talking Feds on Substack.

Reprinted with permission from Talking Feds.

How Trump Is 'Celebrating First Amendment' In Weeks Before White House Press Gala

President Donald Trump has accused news outlets of deliberately producing fraudulent reporting -- often claiming they’re doing so to undermine his Iran war — on at least a dozen occasions in the weeks since the White House Correspondents’ Association invited him to attend its annual dinner. Trump blames “Anti-America” journalists who he claims are “rooting for Iran to win” for this reporting, and he has repeatedly described their behavior as “almost treasonous.”

When WHCA president and CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang confirmed on March 2 that Trump had accepted the group’s invitation to participate in its annual soiree, she described the event as a traditional “evening with the president, a dinner that celebrates the First Amendment,” and added that the journalists of the WHCA “look forward to hosting him.”

But it is impossible to celebrate the First Amendment with the current president. When Trump enters the ballroom at D.C.’s Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, he will come not as a defender of the free press, but amid the most hostile campaign against it by a president and administration in recent history..

Indeed, in a development that should surprise no one, Trump has spent the seven weeks since the announcement of his attendance at the dinner honoring the First Amendment by demeaning reporters and threatening their employers, many of which he is currently suing.

He urged Brendan Carr, his hand-picked chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to review “the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations” over their reporting.

He described New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman as a “Maggot” and “SLEAZEBAG” who “insists on writing false stories about me,” called ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl a “third rate ‘anchor’” who produces “Fictitious quotes,” and insinuated that he might sue both of them.

He gave a speech in which he claimed to be “extremely proud” of having “exposed” the press “for being fake news,” adding: “And we are gonna hopefully change that because I think you really need great news to be great, and they are not great, and they're not leading us to greatness, but we are gonna lead us to greatness.”

But the bulk of Trump’s rancor has focused on news outlets that he alleges have been deliberately lying in order to downplay the success of the Iran campaign, which is currently mired in its seventh week with the regime intact and in control of both its nuclear stockpile and the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Here’s a sampling of Trump’s most demagogic attacks on the press since the WHCA confirmed his attendance at the dinner, cribbed from his Truth Social account, interviews, and public appearances.

'Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War'

Trump posted to Truth Social on March 14:

Yet again, an intentionally misleading headline by the Fake News Media about the five tanker planes that were supposedly struck down at an Airport in Saudi Arabia, and of no further use. In actuality, the Base was hit a few days ago, but the planes were not “struck” or “destroyed.” Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service. One had slightly more damage, but will be in the air shortly. None were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said in headlines. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife “Papers” and Media actually want us to lose the War. Their terrible reporting is the exact opposite of the actual facts! They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America. Fortunately, as proven by our Great and Conclusive Election Win in 2024, the People of our Country understand what is happening far better than the Fake News Media! President DONALD J. TRUMP

'The story was knowingly FAKE and you can say that those Media Outlets should be brought up on Charges for TREASON'

Trump posted to Truth Social on March 15:

Iran has long been known as a Master of Media Manipulation and Public Relations. They are Militarily ineffective and weak, but are really good at “feeding” the very appreciative Fake News Media false information. Now, A.I. has become another Disinformation weapon that Iran uses, quite well, considering they are being annihilated by the day. They showed phony “Kamikaze Boats,” shooting at various Ships at Sea, which looks wonderful, powerful, and vicious, but these Boats don’t exist — It’s all false information to show how “tough” their already defeated Military is! The five U.S. Refueling Planes that were supposedly struck down and badly damaged, according to The Wall Street Journal’s false reporting, and others, are all in service, with the exception of one, which will soon be flying the skies. Buildings and Ships that are shown to be on fire are not — It’s FAKE NEWS, generated by A.I. For instance, Iran, working in close coordination with the Fake News Media, shows our great USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier, one of the largest and most prestigious Ships in the World, burning uncontrollably in the Ocean. Not only was it not burning, it was not even shot at — Iran knows better than to do that! The story was knowingly FAKE and, in a certain way, you can say that those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information! The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they “win” are those that they create through AI, and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets. The Radical Leftwing Press knows this full well, but continues to go forward with false stories and LIES. That’s why their Approval Rating is so low, and I can win a Presidential Election, IN A LANDSLIDE, getting only 5% positive Press — They have no credibility! I am so thrilled to see Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic “News” Organizations. They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, “FIRED.” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

'I think it's pretty criminal...Our media companies [publish news] they know is false'

Trump said at a press gaggle on March 15:

And what they tell the public, you know, I just put out a Truth about their disinformation. I assume most of you saw it. And they use A- -- AI. They said they attacked the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the largest ships in the world, an aircraft carrier. And they showed pictures of it burning. It was never attacked.
It was never burning. The Wall Street Journal put out a false story that five of our big, beautiful tankers that we feed the planes with, the, we give the planes, uh, the gas, the jet fuel, uh, hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline, that they were all essentially destroyed. They weren't destroyed at all.
In fact, uh, four of them weren't, were not even, I mean, literally were not damaged. And one of them has slight damage and it'll be back in the air soon. But they, if you, if you read The Wall Street Journal, it's like they were totally decimated and destroyed like Iran has been. So they put out pho- -- phony stories.
The kamikaze boats. The kamikaze boats don't exist. They're fake. And you can almost see that when you look at them. It looks like y- -- because if they did exist, we'd hit them just like we hit other boats all over the place. But they don't exist. In fact, some of the people say, “Where are the boats?” Well, well, how come nobody seen the boats?
You know why? 'Cause it's AI generated. It's fake. And I found, I didn't realize this before tha- -- we started, but Iran is known for a lot of fake news and they deal with our fake news. And I, I actually think it's pretty criminal because our media companies who have no credibility whatsoever are putting out information that they know is false.
And it's a very dangerous thing for the country. I think it's, I think they could be in serious jeopardy, frankly.

'It's really criminal what they do'

Trump said at a bilateral meeting with Micheal Martin, taoiseach of Ireland, on March 17:

Their reporting of the war was unbelievable. We have decimated that country, and if you watch BBC, it's almost like they're fighting us to a draw. They're not fighting us to a draw. It was very inaccurate news. It was fake news. So, I'm very proud of the term fake news because it was my term, I came up with it. But it's no longer accurate.
It really is. It's corrupt, fraudulent news. It really is -- it's fraudulent. It's not just fake, it's beyond fake. It's really criminal what they do.

'It's almost treasonous, I have to be honest. It's almost treasonous.'

Trump said during a March 27 speech:

[The Iranians] have no air force, all wiped out. They have very few missiles left. Their drones are at a minimum. Their factories are gone. Their leaders are gone. The leaders are all dead. They're all dead. Nobody ever heard of the people that are left. And if you read The Times, you think we're doing poorly. It's so -- it's almost treasonous, I have to be honest.
It's almost treasonous. But fortunately, we have other media that's fair and honest and honorable. And you have to go out and do some of your own talking, because nobody else will. You know the expression, I have to sell myself because nobody else will.

'CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 7:

The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows. The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a “legitimate” headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below. Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible “reporting.” Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future. President DONALD J. TRUMP

'The Fake News Media love saying that Iran is ‘winning’ when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG!'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 11:

The Fake News Media has lost total credibility, not that they had any to begin with. Because of their massive Trump Derangement Syndrome (Sometimes referred to as TDS!), they love saying that Iran is “winning” when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG! Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime “Leaders” are no longer with us, praise be to Allah! The only thing they have going is the threat that a ship may “bunk” into one of their sea mines which, by the way, all 28 of their mine dropper boats are also lying at the bottom of the sea. We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves. Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

'The Fake News Media is CRAZY, or just plain CORRUPT!'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 11:

The Fake News Media is CRAZY, or just plain CORRUPT! The United States has completely destroyed Iran’s Military, including their entire Navy and Air Force, and everything else. Their Leadership is DEAD! The Strait of Hormuz will soon be open, and the empty ships are rushing to the United States to “load up.” But, if you listen to the Fake News, we’re losing! President DONALD J. TRUMP

'They report things that they know are false. It's almost treasonous.'

Trump said during an April 12 interview on Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Fox News show:

And [the Iranianians] go to the press. They're very good with public relations, much better with public relations than -- than they are at fighting. They go to the press. And they say, President Trump said it's OK for us to have a nuclear weapon, when I never even spoke to them. And, by the way, that would be the only thing I would never say to them.
…
And then The New York Times, which is a fake -- a fake paper -- it's just a fake. You just believe the opposite. It's so sad when you look at CNN, The New York Times, ABC fake news, NBC fake news. When you look at this stuff, it's so sad to see it. I mean, they report things that they know are false. It's almost treasonous, actually, if you want to really know the truth.
It's almost treasonous. But if you -- if you're reading The New York Times exclusively, and not -- and their circulation, by the way, is way down.
It's way down. I'm proud to report that. But if you're reading The New York Times exclusively, you would say that they are doing great in the war.

'The New York Times knows that it’s FAKE NEWS!'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 13:

For those people that still read The Failing New York Times and, despite the fact that Iran has been totally OBLITERATED, Militarily, and otherwise, you would think that Iran is actually winning or, at the very least, doing quite well — But that’s not true, and The New York Times knows that it’s FAKE NEWS! When does this Corrupt Media Outlet apologize for their LIES and horrible actions against me, my supporters, and our Country itself! HAVE THEY NO SHAME? HAVE THEY NO SENSE OF DECENCY? President DONALD J. TRUMP

'Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT...???'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 17:

The Failing New York Times, FAKE NEWS CNN, and others, just don’t know what to do. They are desperately looking for a reason to criticize President Donald J. Trump on the Iran situation, but just can’t find it. Why don’t they just say, at the right time, JOB WELL DONE, MR. PRESIDENT, and start to gain back their credibility???

'The Anti-America Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win.'

Trump posted to Truth Social on April 20:

I’m winning a War, BY A LOT, things are going very well, our Military has been amazing and, if you read the Fake News, like The Failing New York Times, the absolutely horrendous and disgusting Wall Street Journal, or the now almost defunct, fortunately, Washington Post, you would actually think we are losing the War. The enemy is confused, because they get these same Media “reports,” and yet they realize their Navy has been completely wiped out, their Air Force has gone onto darker runways, they have no Anti Missile or Anti Airplane Equipment, their former leaders are mostly gone (This has been, in addition to everything else, Regime Change!), and perhaps, most important of all, THE BLOCKADE, which we will not take off until there is a “DEAL,” is absolutely destroying Iran. They are losing $500 Million Dollars a day, an unsustainable number, even in the short run. The Anti-America Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win, but it’s not going to happen, because I’m in charge! Just like these unpatriotic people used every ounce of their limited strength to fight me in the Election, they continue to do so with Iran. The result will be the same — It already is! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters

SAVE Act Swindle: Susan Collins Raising Money Off Election Fraud Lies

Last year, Maine voters overwhelmingly rejected a referendum that would’ve required photo ID at the polls. Now, Sen. Susan Collins is supporting a Trump-backed bill that would impose the restriction anyway.

Collins said in a fundraising email this month that she supports the SAVE Act, a bill that would require voters nationwide to present a photo ID before casting a ballot. It would also eliminate most forms of mail-in voting and require people to provide proof of citizenship when registering, such as a passport, birth certificate, or military ID.

“I announced that I will vote for the SAVE America Act because the law and the Constitution are clear: Citizens of other countries should not be voting in American elections,” the email said.

President Donald Trump used the same argument when he urged House Republicans to pass the legislation during a policy summit last month.

“Our elections are crooked as hell, and you can win—not only win elections over that and not only win future elections—but you’ll win every debate because the public is really angry about it,” the president said.

Despite Trump’s and Collins’ claims, a review by the Department of Homeland Security found that instances of noncitizen voting are close to nonexistent and have no impact on election outcomes. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register to vote or participate in most elections.

The SAVE Act passed the House with mostly Republican votes on Feb. 11. It is unlikely to reach the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate unless Republicans suspend the filibuster, which is reportedly being considered.

Collins would likely be the deciding vote if Senate Republicans tried to bypass the filibuster.

Voting rights advocates warn that the SAVE Act could jeopardize ballot access for more than 21 million Americans. Married women who have changed their names may be especially vulnerable because of mismatching details on their identifying documents.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, one of the Democrats challenging Collins in this year’s election, blasted Collins for backing the bill.

“The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy, and Maine is proud to have one of the highest voter participation rates in the nation,” Mills said on Feb. 14. “But Susan Collins is once again appeasing Republican leadership and caving to pressure by backing a dangerous Trump-backed voter suppression bill that will disenfranchise voters across Maine and America.”

Graham Platner, another Democrat challenging Collins, critiqued her as well.

“Under this terrible bill, if you get married and change your name—or if you can’t find your passport—you could be turned away from the polls,” Platner said in a video posted to Facebook.

Collins is the only Senate Republican seeking reelection in 2026 in a state that Trump didn’t win in 2024.

Reprinted with permission from American Journal News

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