By The Daily Wire (World News) | Created at 2026-06-09 22:24:32 | Updated at 2026-06-10 15:31:52
22 hours ago
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) forced a witness for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) into an uncomfortable corner during a Tuesday hearing, pressing him on Maine’s Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and the Nazi-inspired tattoo about which he’d claimed ignorance.
Gill pressed Bryan Fair, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of the SPLC, on Platner’s tattoo and whether the organization would condemn it.
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Credit: x: @RepBrandonGill
“Do you have an opinion on this tattoo?” Gill began, holding up a photo of Platner’s chest with the Totenkopf clearly visible.
“I’m not an expert on tattoos, no I don’t,” Fair replied.
Gill offered some “background” information on the displayed image, saying, “This is a tattoo on Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner’s chest — that’s the Nazi SS death head tattoo. Do you have any opinions on that?”
“If it’s what you say, if it’s a Nazi symbol, we oppose Nazis,” Fair replied.
“I agree, we do oppose Nazis,” Gill said. “Do you think that if somebody got a Nazi tattoo on their chest that’s indicative that they might be a Nazi?”
Fair attempted to evade the question, suggesting that Gill should ask Platner why he’d gotten the tattoo. Platner has claimed that he did not know the tattoo had Nazi connections until recently, but several people who have been close to him have said that he was well aware of the connections and referred to the ink as “my Totenkopf.”
“You don’t think that that’s indicative that perhaps he holds Nazi sentiment?” Gill tried a different tack.
Fair acknowledged, “It may well be.”
“Do people that aren’t Nazis normally get Nazi tattoos on their chest?” Gill asked one more question.
“I assume they don’t,” was Fair’s reply.
“Do you think that somebody that has a Nazi tattoo on their chest should service in the United States Senate?”
“I wouldn’t vote for that person,” Fair conceded.
Gill pressed again: “Do you think that this should disqualify him from serving politically in the Senate?”
“I’m not sure where the lines of questions are going,” Fair protested, repeating that the SPLC as an organization would not support Nazis.
Platner is likely to become Maine’s official Democrat nominee for Senate after Tuesday’s primary — especially since Governor Janet Mills (D-ME) suspended her campaign more than five weeks earlier due to a lack of funding — despite a series of damning reports detailing his troubling behavior in past relationships and social media posts attacking a Purple Heart recipient, among other things.
