Former Obama aides say Platner should step aside, was dishonest about his past

Ex-aides to former President Barack Obama, now podcast hosts, sharply turned against Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner on Monday after reports revealed Platner was facing a rape allegation.

"The allegations in the story are really bad and troubling," co-host of "Pod Save America" and former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said. 

"They seem credible," he said. "They're backed up by documentation. And so, obviously, the impact politically is not just what's in the story. It's this cumulative impact of a series of articles and allegations about him. And the feeling that he's just not been fully transparent and honest about some of the allegations, like you mentioned."

Maine resident Jenny Racicot accused Platner of rape in interviews with Politico and CNN on Monday, alleging the Senate hopeful entered her home uninvited while intoxicated nearly five years ago and forced himself on her.

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Racicot, who was seeing Platner on-and-off at the time, told Politico she immediately cut ties with him after the alleged assault, saying, "I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’"

Vietor also responded to a video of Platner responding to the allegations.

"My takeaway from that video was that he's going to drop out of the race," he said. "I think he has to drop out of the race."

The podcast host acknowledged that Platner had some genuine appeal with voters who were willing to hold their nose and ignore his other controversies.

"I think the challenge is going to be, you had all these voters who turned out and voted for Graham Platner despite the Reddit posts, despite the tattoo story and all the other scandals," he said. "They were turning out to signal that they wanted something different and that they were angry at the establishment. And I don't know who in Maine can speak to that anger, but also has been vetted by the party and has been through the political process."

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He added, "Because, look, as much as Janet Mills's supporters deserve to be angry and deserve the 'I told you so' they're saying today, the problem was that Maine voters were not supporting her — they didn't want to vote for her."

Fellow co-host and former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett agreed, saying, "He has to end the campaign so that we have a chance of defeating Susan Collins. I think the story is horrible. Starting from when you interviewed him about the tattoo, he has not always been transparent about it. That has become increasingly true, that his denials have just not been backed up by what came next."

He added that the latest allegations seem believable based on Platner's past history of purported activity and struggles.

"Even here in the story, which is deeply reported, backed up by contemporaneous evidence and previous conversations, it comports with what he said, which is that he was drinking a lot, and the story describes him as being drunk, potentially not remembering it the next day," he said. "And so then we have a video of him categorically denying something which it doesn't seem he's really in a position to deny."

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Lovett went on to argue that it seems Platner may have ultimately deceived himself.

"So he has to withdraw to give us a chance," he said. "And what I took away from watching this video, from reading this story, is it is clear that this is somebody that has not maybe even been honest with himself about what was going on in the dark phases of his life. But that is not for us to deal with in a Senate race that will determine the control of the Senate."

Fox News Digital reached out to Platner’s campaign but did not receive immediate reply.