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Maine Democrat Graham Platner, a first-time Senate candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says he has covered up a tattoo widely recognized as a Nazi symbol after critics unearthed old social media posts and demanded he quit the race.
Platner’s campaign is facing intense scrutiny after it was revealed he once had a skull-and-crossbones tattoo resembling the Totenkopf used by Hitler’s SS paramilitary forces.
Platner said he got the tattoo in 2007 during a “night of drinking” while on leave in Croatia in the Marine Corps and claimed he did not know its historical associations at the time. He has since covered the image with another tattoo.
In a video posted to Instagram Wednesday afternoon, Platner elaborated that the design was chosen from a flash tattoo wall while “carousing” with fellow Marines in Split, Croatia.
“We thought it looked cool,” he said.
He claimed he had “lived a life dedicated to anti-fascism, anti-racism, and anti-Nazism” and was “appalled” to learn it resembled a hate symbol.
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Platner said he had never been questioned about the tattoo during his service and passed Army background checks.
He told the Associated Press he chose to cover rather than remove the tattoo due to a lack of removal services near his home in rural Maine.
“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” Platner said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”
In the video, Platner said he had the symbol inked over with a Celtic knot and imagery of dogs, a tribute to his family pets. “This far more represents who I am now than even the skull and crossbones did,” he said, lifting his shirt to reveal the new tattoo.
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The controversy comes on the heels of deleted Reddit posts in which Platner appeared to mock military sexual assault victims, criticize police and make racially-charged comments about tipping.
Platner since apologized and blamed the posts on depression and PTSD following his military service in Afghanistan. He has vowed to stay in the race and has the backing of Sanders.
Jordan Wood, a Democratic rival in the primary and former chief of staff to Rep. Katie Porter, is calling on Platner to drop out.
“Graham Platner’s Reddit comments and Nazi SS Totenkopf tattoo are disqualifying and not who we are as Mainers or as Democrats,” Wood said in a statement. “With Donald Trump and his sycophants demonizing Americans, spewing hate, and running roughshod over the Constitution, Democrats need to be able to condemn Trump’s actions with moral clarity. Graham Platner no longer can.”
Platner said he believes the controversy is part of his life story, not disqualifying.
“I don’t look at this as a liability. I look at this as a life that I have lived, a journey that has been difficult, that has been full of struggle, that has also gotten me to where I am today,” Platner told the AP. “And I’m very proud of who I am.”
He blamed “establishment” forces for amplifying the backlash to derail his campaign. “Every second we spend talking about a tattoo I got in the Marine Corps is a second we don’t talk about Medicare for All,” Platner said in the video.
He is running in a packed Democratic primary against Wood and two-term Gov. Janet Mills.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins, who has held the seat for three decades, has not yet commented on the controversy.
Sanders and Collins did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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