NPR News: 07-08-2026 10PM EDT

Ryland Barton· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Democrat Graham Platner is suspending his Senate campaign in Maine after a former girlfriend accused him of rape in an article published by Politico. Platner denies the allegation, but in a video posted to social media, he announced his exit from the race.

Graham Platner· Soundbite0:18

We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system that is built structurally to make sure that movements like ours cannot flourish, that if they begin to succeed, they can be crushed.

Ryland Barton· Host0:35

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and leading Democratic lawmakers called on Platner to drop out. His exit from the race sets off a scramble for Democrats to find a new nominee to take on incumbent Republican Susan Collins this fall. Maine's Democratic Party says it will hold a nominating convention to fill Platner's vacancy on the ballot. The party has until July twenty-seventh to select a replacement. President Trump announced on social media that he'd be traveling on the old Air Force One jet as he travels home from the NATO summit in Turkey. He said the new plane, gifted from Qatar, would be on display for US forces abroad. NPR's Deepa Shivaram has more.

Deepa Shivaram1:13

The trip to Ankara, Turkey, was the first international trip Trump has taken with the new plane. But on the way home, travel plans changed. Trump posted on social media that he would fly in an older Air Force One for part of the trip home, while the new plane would stop in Mildenhall Air Force Base