Maine Governor Janet Mills got into a tense verbal dispute with President Trump over resistance to his executive order on transgender athletes – as the two traded threats and counter threats over money and lawsuits.
The two chief executives were face to face as Trump spoke to a working session of governors from both parties who were meeting in D.C.
Trump threatened to yank federal funding from her state’s schools after she said she would resist his Feb. 5 order.
‘You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,’ Trump told her.
Mills countered: ‘We’re going to follow the law sir. We’ll see you in court.’
Trump embraced the threat, telling Mills the case would be ‘an easy one’ and threatening that it would be a career-ender for her.
It was a stunning departure from the meeting, where Republican governors offered unsolicited praise and Trump said he would abolish the Education Department and slash its funding to states by half.
The exchange came hours after Trump brandished the threat in a formal speech to the Republican Governors Association.
‘Anyone here from Maine?’ Trump asked during his speech to the RGA.
‘They are still saying they want men to play in women’s sports and I cannot believe that they are doing that…so we’re not gonna give them any federal funding until they clean that up.’
‘You better do it because you’re not going to get federal funding,’ Trump threatened Maine’s governor amid a clash over his executive order threatening to yank funding from states over transgender participation in athletics
In a Friday statement, Mills said her state ‘will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.”
‘If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,’ she said, Maine Morning Star reported.
The state’s AG said any funding linkage would be ‘illegal and in direct violation of federal court orders.”
‘Fortunately, the rule of law still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend Maine’s laws and block efforts by the president to bully and threaten us,’ AG Aaron Frey said, calling it ‘disturbing that President Trump would use children as pawns in advancing his political agenda.’
Trump campaigned heavily on ‘keeping men out of women’s sports,’ and continues to mention the issue, which his supporters credit with helping him in key states.
Trump seemed ready for a confrontation when he raised it again Friday. ‘Is anybody here from Maine? Ah – who is that? I that the governor’ he asked the crowd of governors at the White House.
‘We’ll see you in court,’ Maine Gov. Janet Mills told Trump after his threat
Trump told Mills: ‘I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics’ if she challenges his order on transgender athletics
‘I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to give ’em any federal money. They are still saying we want men to play in women’s sports, and I cannot believe that they’re doing that. They are tough to find out who that guy is that raised his hand. Maybe he’s just kidding, but so we’re not going to give him any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up. ‘
Trump’s appeared to be confusing the gender of Maine’s female governor, who stood inside the room to issue the legal threat.
When she threatened to sue, Trump embraced it.
‘Good I’ll see you in court,’ he parried. ‘I look forward to that that should be a real easy one,’ said Trump – who has spent decades battling in courtrooms over business deals and contracts – and managed to get out of four criminal indictments, with some cases falling away after got elected president.
‘And enjoy your life after government. I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics,’ Trump told Mills, even while acknowledging a block of liberal voters in her state.
Trump’s order is just one of many of his executive actions that are being challenged in court, although his team one several temporary victories as the new DOGE seeks to gain access to federal data while Trump carries out efforts to purge the federal workforce.
Two transgender girls in New Hampshire have sued to challenge the ban, taking on both a state law and the executive order. Their case has been taken up by GLAD and the ACLU in federal court.
‘The Trump Administration’s executive orders amount to a coordinated campaign to prevent transgender people from functioning in society, said Chris Erchull, senior staff lawyer for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, which joined the suit.
‘School sports are an important part of education—something no child should be denied simply because of who they are. Our clients Parker and Iris simply want to go to school, learn, and play on teams with their peers,’ he said.
