CNN’s K-File Rebuts Graham Platner’s Nazi Tattoo Denial: How Did Ex-Girlfriend Know Before He Did?

CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, who runs the investigative K-File vertical, told anchor Erin Burnett this week that Graham Platner’s denial that he did not know his tattoo was a Nazi symbol until last October is even further under doubt amid new reporting. Burnett detailed the latest scandal to engulf Platner, who is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate in Maine, and asked Kaczynski to explain how the new information further rebuts Platner’s denial.

“The New York Times publishing new allegations against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. The Times speaking with six women who have dated Platner. Now, three of them described him as a caring partner, but three of them described volatile and toxic relationships, including allegations of infidelity, demeaning behavior toward women, heavy drinking, and in one account, physical intimidation,” began Burnett, adding:

Lindsay Fifield, who dated Platner for about two or three years, 2013 to 2015, alleges to the Times that Platner grabbed her by the shoulders regularly, sometimes hard enough to leave marks. She also described an argument with Platner where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoving her into a bedroom and holding the door closed so she couldn’t get out. Again, that’s her account. He strongly disputes the claims, his campaign saying the most serious allegations are false and politically motivated.

So I want to go to our K-File, Andrew Kaczynski, who’s done extensive reporting on Platner and, of course, spoken to him. And, K-File, alongside these new allegations, I know that you also have new reporting about this tattoo we’ve heard a lot about, right? Specifically, this Nazi tattoo — it’s widely recognized as a Nazi symbol — that Platner had on his chest. What are you learning?

“Well, Erin, what we’re learning tonight is that a woman who spoke to CNN anonymously last year is now going public to the New York Times and CNN, and directly challenging Graham Platner’s explanation about the tattoo. She says Platner referred to the image as ‘My Totenkopf’ — that’s a reference to the skull and crossbones emblem used by Nazi SS units — years before the controversy became public,” Kaczynski explained, adding:

She was the same source who previously provided CNN with text messages showing that before Platner said he learned of the symbol’s Nazi associations, she was already describing the tattoo to friends as a Nazi symbol, and saying that she learned that from Platner. Now, her account also lines up with reporting we uncovered last year from Platner’s deleted Reddit posts. In those posts, he discussed the Totenkopf and other Nazi-linked symbols, and he argued that some members of the military had adopted them as part of military culture rather than as expressions of Nazi ideology.

Now, this raises new questions about Platner’s longstanding claim that he only recently learned about the symbol’s Nazi associations last year. And most importantly here, Erin, this campaign has really offered no explanation as to how his ex-girlfriend could have known about the tattoo before he did. These text messages were from August of last year, right when he announced his campaign, and Platner said that he learned about it in October. The campaign is standing by their explanation to us, Erin, and they’re saying that he did not know about the tattoo until October.

Watch above via CNN.

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