Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) vowed to see President Donald Trump in court as they engaged in a heated exchange Friday over Trump’s threat to withhold federal funds from states that don’t obey his transgender athlete ban.
Speaking before Democratic and Republican governors at an event in the White House, Trump called out Mills directly while addressing some states’ objections to his recent executive order that bars trans athletes from women’s sports.
“Are you not gonna comply with it?” Trump asked Mills, as seen in video footage shared on social media.
I’m complying with state and federal law,” Mills responded.
“We are the federal law,” he retorted. “Well, you better do it. You better do it because you’re not gonna get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Trump then repeated MAGA talking points on “men playing in women’s sports.”
“See you in court,” Mills eventually answered.
“Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor ’cause I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics,” he said.
Mills is term-limited and cannot seek reelection to a third consecutive term when her current term ends.
The Maine Principals’ Association, which governs high school sports in the state, has said that it will ignore Trump’s executive order and instead obey a state law that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, genetic pre-disposition, religion, ancestry or national origin.
Trump has said that all states that ignore his order will be ineligible for federal funding for violating Title IX, which bans sex discrimination.
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Maine has also joined several other states in rejecting Trump’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care.
Shortly after Friday’s exchange, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it launched a Title IX violation investigation into Maine’s Department of Education and one of its school districts. In a statement, the DOE argued that state laws do not override federal antidiscrimination laws.
“If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. “If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice. OCR will do everything in its power to ensure taxpayers are not funding blatant civil rights violators.”
