Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) had a tense confrontation with a reporter after being asked whether he supports Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, according to newly released video obtained by Fox News on Wednesday.
The footage shows Moulton walking into an office when a reporter asks if he endorses Platner, who secured the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Maine despite facing multiple controversies throughout his campaign.
Rather than answer the question directly, Moulton immediately challenged the reporter.
“Who are you?” the congressman asked.
When the reporter repeated the question, asking again whether Moulton endorsed Platner, the exchange quickly escalated. Moulton walked directly toward the reporter until his face was only inches from the camera phone before responding with another question.
“Who are you to be asking this question?” Moulton said.
Moments later, Moulton appeared to grab at the phone while joking, “You gotta do a better job of hanging onto your phone.” The camera then jolted violently before seemingly falling to the ground as the clip came to an end.
After the footage aired, Fox News anchor John Roberts reacted with a brief but pointed response.
“Yikes!” Roberts said.
Not long after the video circulated, Moulton defended his actions in a post on X. He claimed the individual confronting him was not a traditional reporter but a “reporter” affiliated with America Rising, which he described as a right-wing political action committee focused on opposition research targeting Democrats.
“I’m not going to apologize for how much MAGA pisses me off,” Moulton wrote. “I’ll take them on anywhere, anytime, and I won’t back down. If this tracker can’t handle a reality check or hold onto his own equipment, that’s on him.”
Moulton also criticized Fox News in the same post, suggesting the network should stop “ghosting” his team if it wanted him to appear on its programs again.
The confrontation comes as Platner’s Senate campaign continues to face scrutiny over a series of controversies.
Platner previously acknowledged having a Nazi tattoo on his chest before later removing it. He denied knowing the symbol was connected to Nazi Germany, though a former girlfriend disputed that claim in comments to The New York Times, saying he understood its meaning.
His campaign also admitted that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women who were not his wife. In response, Platner accused the “establishment media” of attempting to undermine what he described as his loving marriage.
Additional controversy followed after reports that Platner praised Nazi-allied soldiers in now-deleted Reddit posts. He was also accused of abusive behavior by former girlfriends in The New York Times report. Platner denied those allegations.
Despite the controversies surrounding his campaign, Platner won Maine’s Democratic Senate primary last month. He is now set to face Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in the November general election.
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