Top Graham Platner adviser threatened former aide over sexting stories

An adviser to Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner warned a former aide she would be accused of lying and sabotage if she cooperated with news outlets reporting on sexually explicit messages Platner sent to women, according to a message reviewed by the Bangor Daily News.

Morris Katz, a strategist with the Platner campaign, delivered the Friday warning through an intermediary to former state Rep. Genevieve McDonald, who left the campaign last fall and spoke to The Wall Street Journal and New York Times. The outlets published stories in quick succession on Saturday about the messages that had been flagged by Platner’s wife at the outset of his campaign last summer.

“Just want to be clear on where we are right now,” Katz wrote in the message that McDonald shared exclusively with the BDN. “If the story goes in its current iteration we’ll communicate directly on the record, and by name, that Genevieve violated the personal trust of Amy and Graham and shared explicit falsehoods to sabotage the campaign.”