Piker read the story aloud on his Twitch stream shortly after it was published. He read the portion of the report that cited Maine resident Jenny Racicot’s documents, emails with her therapist and messages to an acquaintance who warned about getting involved with Platner.
“That is curtains … That is the trifecta, OK? That is the trifecta of a reliable allegation. It’s –– holy s—. Personal firsthand testimony to a friend, a close confidante, back from way before Graham Platner ever f—ing ran for Congress, are you kidding me? And then also direct testimony to a therapist?” Piker said.
The streamer added that he believed the allegations against Platner. He said that there are verifiable aspects — including documentation — that support any credible allegation, saying it was “impossible to overlook” Racicot’s testimony.
Piker said people could have judged Platner’s character based on previous allegations about his past comments and behavior, referring to The New York Times article published in June that spoke with women Platner used to date
“But this is something beyond that … It’s irredeemable,” Piker added.
Politico reported earlier on Monday that Racicot accused Platner of forcing her to have sex with him while he was intoxicated in 2021.
Racicot recounted the 2021 incident to CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday night. She alleged that he was “heavily intoxicated” and that she pushed him away, knocking over belongings in her room. She said he “was aware that he was doing something wrong, yeah, saying, ‘Sorry.'”
She later said that she agrees with him politically and that she was “not mad at anyone who has voted for him all along,” and that “if he wasn’t who he was” she would vote for Platner as well.
“I understand that the state of our political environment is so much so that we need a lot of change, and he’s offering that change,” Racicot told Tapper.
Platner vehemently denied the allegations and emphasized the “inaccuracy of the reporting” by Politico while acknowledging that the latest scandal could threaten to impact his campaign.
He told supporters that he would take “the time to reflect on the best path forward” for Maine, the people he loves, his movement and “the goal of defeating” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Hours after Politico ran its story, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and End Citizens United pulled their endorsements for Platner. Florida Senate candidate Alex Vindman (D) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) also called for Platner to drop from the race.
The Maine Democratic Party called on Platner to withdraw as the party nominee, adding that the party is “entrusted with deciding who represents our values and who carries our banner.”
“Over the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Platner,” Maine Democratic Party leaders said in a statement. “Today’s statements take those allegations even further.”
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Sex crimes are incredibly traumatizing for victims. Because of that, a lot of times those crimes don’t come to light until years down the road, once the victim has conquered that trauma enough to come forward. Even in the cases where a victim comes forward immediately, their cases rarely go anywhere because police departments infamously don’t do their due diligence when it comes to these reports and processing evidence.
Because sex crimes are so traumatizing, they’re one of the most heinous crimes a person can commit. I don’t want a politician who’s capable of committing heinous crimes. I don’t want a politician that tries to excuse, cover up, or wrongfully deny having committed heinous crimes. I understand no politicians are perfect. But there’s a ton of wiggle room between “not perfect” and “does heinous crimes”. It’s not a lot to ask for politicians to fall somewhere in the middle of that range.
Ok. Thats fair.
Someone else described it to me as “he is failing the job interview” and I mean sure. I dont want to really have someone who is a POS as a representative. But I also want to make sure we still can ask questions instead of having to jump to beliefs.
I also think that what they do after this is important since I agree that the idea of a repeat offender leaves less room for careless mistake and more a trend.
What’s wrong with believing a victim who claims they was sexually assaulted? Especially in a case like this with receipts.
Right, and it’s looking like Platner is a repeat offender. Multiple people have come forward with accusations now, this one is just the latest.
The significant allegations people are responding to were 5 years ago.
Ok updated.
Lmao, the way this could be interpreted as a right-winger whining about the Epstein files being a witch hunt.
Off topic and also we still have the very real current present reality of trump fucking up to hold him accountable for.
And agreed that its basically the same take though. So if there is no legal consequences what are we looking for here? If we want the victims to have justice we need to help them get it. What does all this vitriol serve to do? What are people looking for?
Oh geez, I don’t really know the answer to this buddy… I’m all for prison reform and all, but this kinda seems like an open goal
I got raped 3 times and my abusers didnt see a moment of consequence (edit: and I sure as fuck tried to make them) . I would LOVE if we punished sexual assaulters, but also this isnt that.
If police are involved and courts then that means legal repercussions. So are we trying to give social consequences here for the sake that its public and looks good to be against this? Cause in private I know people dont actually give a shit.
What are we doing here? Cause this isnt about legal justice or the conversations would be different.