President Donald Trump is demanding a “full-throated apology” from Maine Governor Janet Mills for challenging his administration’s executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports — and implied that continued resistance could come at a cost.
In a fiery Truth Social post Saturday morning, Trump said the issue would not be resolved until Mills personally apologized for her remarks during a February meeting at the White House, where she told the president, “We’ll see you in court” in response to his threat to withhold federal funding from Maine schools.
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“While the State of Maine has apologized for their Governor’s strong, but totally incorrect, statement about men playing in women’s sports… we have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases,” Trump wrote. “We need a full-throated apology from the Governor herself, and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the Federal Government again, before this case can be settled.”
Since the February confrontation, the Trump administration has opened multiple investigations into Maine’s compliance with Title IX — the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funds. The probes have been spearheaded by the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture.
The Department of Agriculture initially paused funding to Maine’s public university system on March 10, citing concerns about compliance with the new Title IX interpretation. Although the USDA later reinstated the funding and cleared the University of Maine of any violations, the warning to the state was clear.
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In bold text, the USDA’s March 19 statement declared: “The choice for the rest of Maine is simple: protect equal opportunities for women, as required by law, or lose funding.”
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also concluded its own investigation this week and found that Maine’s Department of Education was in violation of Title IX under the Trump administration’s interpretation. The agency gave the state 10 days to voluntarily comply or face possible referral to the Department of Justice.
This growing pressure from Washington follows Trump’s February 5 executive order banning transgender women and girls from competing in female-designated sports, using Title IX as its legal basis. The administration has warned schools that noncompliance could lead to cuts in federal funding, as seen with the temporary pause of $175 million in federal aid to the University of Pennsylvania over its trans-inclusive policies.
Governor Mills, a Democrat, has not publicly backed down from her challenge to Trump, but her office has remained quiet in response to the president’s latest demand. Meanwhile, Maine’s university system insists it has always complied with both state and federal laws — as well as NCAA regulations.
A spokesperson said that recent NCAA rule changes required no modifications to the university’s policies.
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Despite federal agencies clearing the university system, the Trump administration’s investigations into the broader state apparatus continue — signaling that Maine could remain in the administration’s crosshairs unless Mills responds.
As the 2024 election cycle draws near, the conflict between Trump’s administration and Democratic-led states like Maine underscores the culture war flashpoints that continue to dominate national discourse — with transgender participation in sports now firmly at the center.
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