A Trump administration official called Gov. Janet Mills a “petulant child” who needed to be punished.
That’s according to a Feb. 27 email exchange obtained by The Washington Post.
In that exchange, a senior Social Security official warned acting Administrator Leland Dudek that ending Maine programs that allowed for electronic transmission of birth and death records would increase fraud, The Washington Post reported.
Dudek acknowledged that “improper payments” would increase, but said it was a necessary move to deny federal funds to the “petulant child” who was “disrespectful” and “unprofessional” toward President Donald Trump.
It’s the latest revelation in the wake of the Trump administration’s unprecedented pressure campaign against Maine over the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
Maine has been at the center of a sprawling web of federal investigations over the state’s policies toward transgender athletes. To date, at least six agencies have launched Title IX investigations into the state, the Maine Department of Education, the University of Maine System, the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School in Cumberland, potentially risking millions in federal funds.
The state was thrust into Trump’s crosshairs in February when a viral social media post from state Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, took issue with a transgender athlete who won a girls’ track-and-field title. The Maine House has since censured Libby for her post, and she is suing House Speaker Ryan Fecteau to get her floor privileges back.
In response to a February executive order attempting to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports from Trump, the Maine Principals’ Association, which runs high school sports, affirmed it will continue to allow trans athletes to compete in accordance with the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
That continues the association’s longstanding policy of inclusion, which allowed trans athletes to play in sports consistent with their gender identity, unless there was a safety risk.
Between 2013 and 2021, the association heard from 56 students wishing to participate during that time, only four of whom were trans girls. Only two trans girls are playing on sports teams across the state this school year.
Trump then threatened to withhold federal funds from Maine until the state complied with his order. That led to a heated exchange between him and Mills at a White House event in Washington.
Amid those Title IX investigations, the Social Security Administration in early March informed the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention that the agency was ending two contracts with the state that allowed providers to share birth and death information electronically.
That prevented parents from registering their newborns for Social Security numbers at the hospital where they were born. Instead, they would have to go to one of eight Social Security offices to fill out paperwork to register their babies.
But the Social Security Administration reversed that decision within 48 hours, with Dudek apologizing to Mainers.
“In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent,” Dudek said. “For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated.”
Last week, Dudek told The New York Times that his decision to temporarily end those contracts was meant to get back at Mills over her war of words with Trump.
“I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president,” Dudek told The Times. “I screwed up. I’ll admit I screwed up.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins told the Bangor Daily News in mid-March that Dudek said to her the change was a mistake and that she agreed it was not “some sort of deliberate action to cut off funding for the state of Maine.”
Asked by the BDN whether Dudek’s comments to The Times squared with her conversation with him, or she felt he had been dishonest by not disclosing that he was retaliating against Mills, a Collins spokesperson said last week, “Whatever the cause of this nonsensical change, [Collins] said that it made absolutely no sense to place this unnecessary and inefficient burden on new parents and grieving families and was glad that it was immediately reversed.”
The Trump administration also pulled funding for Maine Sea Grant, but since then, the Commerce Department has said it will renegotiate that grant. More than 30 states, Puerto Rico and Guam participate in the national Sea Grant program. No other Sea Grant program has seen its funding cut.
The conflict between Trump and Mills has continued to play out publicly in recent days, with Trump over the weekend demanding a “full throated apology” from the governor. Last week, Mills responded, without naming Trump, saying that if the “current occupant of the White House” cares about women and girls, he should ensure they have access to life-saving medical care.
But during a March event at the Blaine House in Augusta, Mills told reporters that transgender students’ participation in athletics is “worthy of debate” without taking an explicit stance on the issue.
Both the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School have said they won’t sign an agreement with the Trump administration that they violated Title IX.
The U.S. Department of Education on Monday warned the Maine Department of Education that it has until April 11 to signal that it plans to keep transgender athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports or else the state will face sanction or the case will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. At least one Title IX case, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been referred to the Justice Department.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has threatened to sue Maine over any alleged Title IX violations.
The U.S. Department of Education last week launched a separate investigation into allegations that local school districts are hiding students’ “gender plans” from parents, which it argues violates federal law.
