The governor of Maine’s chief of staff publicly melted down and cursed at a White House official on Saturday over the state’s dispute with the White House on men in women’s sports, a senior White House official told The Daily Wire on Saturday.
The incident allegedly occurred as Alex Meyer, the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, spoke with a group of gubernatorial chiefs of staff on Saturday morning in Washington, D.C., the senior White House official said. When Meyer told Jeremy Kennedy, the chief of staff for Maine Governor Janet Mills, that the state must follow the law and protect women’s sports, Kennedy allegedly responded, “F*** you, you a**hole,” before storming out of the room.
A spokesman for the governor denied this to The Daily Wire on Saturday morning, saying: “Jeremy did not say those words. He did not engage in profanity.” The governor’s office did not immediately respond to further requests for comment about the altercation and did not deny that Kennedy was upset and stormed out of the room.
On Sunday morning, the director of communications at the National Governors Association (NGA) emailed the Daily Wire and stated that Kennedy did not use “profanity during a meeting with a White House official.”
“Multiple credible witnesses who were present at the meeting all have confirmed that there was no exchange of profane language,” said NGA’s Eric Wohlschlegel, who has not connected The Daily Wire with these alleged witnesses. “The integrity of the proceedings was maintained throughout, and we stand by the verified accounts from those in attendance.”
The moment followed a fiery dispute at the White House on Friday as Trump delivered remarks at the Governors Working Session and challenged Maine’s Democrat governor for refusing to defend the integrity of women’s sports.
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As he discussed the NCAA complying with his executive order mandating that men stay out of women’s spaces, Trump looked up from the podium questioning: “Is Maine here? The governor of Maine? Are you not going to comply with it?”
“I’ll comply with state and federal law,” Mills responded.
“We are the federal law,” Trump told her. “You better do it. Because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t. And by the way, your population, even though it is somewhat liberal — although I did very well there — your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. You better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.”
“We’ll see you in court,” the governor can be heard saying.
“Good, I’ll see you in court,” Trump responded. “I look forward to that, that should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
On Thursday, the president said that his administration would withhold federal funding from Maine following the news that a boy who identifies as a girl took first place in girls’ pole vaulting at Maine’s Class B state championship.
“I heard men are still playing in Maine,” Trump said on Thursday. “We’re not gonna give any federal money. They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports.’ And I cannot believe they’re doing that.”
“We’re not gonna give them any federal funding — none whatsoever, until they clean that up,” he added.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the National Governor’s Association.
