Maine Sen. Candidate Graham Platner: ‘Very Much Caught Me by Surprise’ that My Nazi Tattoo Would Be an Issue

PSAKI: “And joining me now is Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. So, Graham, I just laid out everything that’s happened since we spoke a couple of weeks ago, or everything that’s happened publicly, I should say. All of the offensive Reddit posts that have come to light, the tattoo that resembled Nazi imagery that came to light. I did note that you, of course, apologized for the Reddit posts and you’ve covered up, since covered up, the tattoo. I would note, one of the things that struck me is that you’ve seen — I know you’re new to the political world and that is appealing to people out there, but you’ve seemed a little surprised that there’s been a strong reaction to these things that have come to surface. So let me just start by asking you, did you really not think that any of this would be an issue when you launched your campaign for Senate?”
PLATNER: “Oh, my Internet history, I assumed, was going to get poured through. I mean, I’m a regular guy who has lived a, I’m not going to say a regular life, but I was certainly not ever preparing to run for the United States Senate. And so I spent, you know, many years commenting on the Internet. I figured somebody was going to go through all that stuff at some point. That I expected. I will say the tattoo, I did not expect. The tattoo thing, I’ve had it for 20 years. I’ve gone through multiple security clearances. I’ve been taking my shirt off in front of other people and taking photographs the entire time. That had never come up. That one very much caught me by surprise, especially considering that I spent my entire life essentially hating Nazis. So to have that accusation thrown my way, that was not expected. But no, my Internet history, I assumed that somebody would pour through that. And at the end of the day, I look back throughout all the comments I made. There are certainly things that I highly disagree with these days. But they came from times in my life where I not had the experiences I have now. And I not had the ability to grow and to change like I have now. And that did not surprise me in the slightest.”
PSAKI: “I know you’re trying to move forward from this. But there’s still been some discrepancy kind of about when you knew your tattoo was problematic. There was an anonymous source that said a couple of years ago you may have known. Your former political director said this summer you recognized that it was problematic. So help — clarify for us. When did you know and recognize it was a problematic symbol? And how did that come to light for you?”
PLATNER: “We were contacted by ‘The New York Times,’ I believe, a few weeks ago, or two weeks ago now. Sorry. This is all —“ [crosstalk]
PSAKI: “So in September or October? October?”
PLATNER: “October. Yeah, just — just I think two weeks back now. We were contacted. We were asked if I had a tattoo that had, you know, Nazi overtones. I have had this thing for ages. And it had never once come up. At that point, we looked at it. We saw what they sent. And, you know, it’s a — it’s stylized skull and crossbones. Stylized skull and crossbones are very popular with military units for obvious reasons. But it looked quite similar. And at that point, I don’t want something like that on my body, that is going to make people think I have any kind of ideological similarity to something that I’m — that is essentially so antithetical to my politics. So I was more than happy to get it covered up.”