Maine Gov. Janet Mills is responding after President Donald Trump demanded an apology over her stand on transgender athletes and Title IX, the latest comment in the conflict between the governor and commander-in-chief.
Speaking with NEWS CENTER Maine, Mills discussed her response to the president's post on Truth Social over the weekend. On Saturday, Trump wrote "While 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 House Governor's Conference, we have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases. 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."
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It was not clear what Trump meant by his reference to an apology by the state. Mills said she stands by her defense of the rule of law and separation of powers.
"My issue is about the rule of law, pure and simple," Mills told reporters. "It's not about transgender sports; it's about who makes the laws and who enforces the laws. I read the Constitution. The Constitution says that the president, the chief executive, shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. It doesn't allow him to make laws out of whole cloth by Tweet or Instagram post or press release or executive order."
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The governor and president first clashed over the executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports during a Feb. 21 meeting at the White House, with Mills telling the president, “We’ll see you in court.”
In an unusually speedy investigation, the U.S. Department of Education concluded last week that Maine’s education office violated the Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams and use girls’ sports facilities. Maine was given 10 days to accept a list of demands or the case will be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.
Mills said she's spent her career defending the rights of girls and women and criticized the Trump administration's focus on the issue of athletes over other priorities.
"We've seen policies that threaten women and girls across the country," Mills told NEWS CENTER Maine. "I've spent my career protecting and defending the rights of women and girls across the state and in this country. Protecting their right to be free from domestic violence and sexual assault, sexual violence.
"If the current occupant of the White House wants to protect women and girls, he should start by protecting the women and teenage girls who are suffering miscarriages and dying because they can't get basic, life-saving healthcare in states across the country," she continued.
Mills also lambasted the administration's action on the economy.
"People in Maine and across the country are waiting for an economic plan from the current occupant of the White House. So far, we've seen none," Mills said. "We've seen tariffs and threats of tariffs that threaten our economy here in Maine and across the country."
"Why are we—why is he picking a fight with Canada?" she added. "What did they do to us?"
Tensions have been growing between the U.S. in Canada over what Canadian officials describe as a trade war, with Trump declaring a 25% tariff on imports from Canada in Mexico. Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., and the president has promised another round of tariffs in the spring.
