In her first extended interview since her confrontation with President Donald Trump in February, Maine Gov. Janet Mills appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program on Monday to decry the Trump administration's ongoing targeting of Maine.
The governor's appearance came just days after a federal judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture from freezing federal funds to Maine over what it said were Title IX violations. The administration has made that assertion repeatedly while trying to get Mills to ignore a state law that's allowed transgender athletes to compete on girls' sports teams.
Mills has argued that the debate over transgender athletes is separate from her duty to follow state law. And she told the cable news hosts that Trump is using the federal government to coerce the state into following his interpretation of Title IX via executive order.
"Every fifth grade civics student knows there are three branches of government and that the chief executive is required by the Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, not to make the laws, not to invent the laws, or reinterpret the laws by tweet, or Instagram post or executive order. He's not allowed to do that," she said.
A former attorney general, Mills also criticized USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins for an April 2 letter that promised that the move to freeze funds was "only the beginning" if Maine didn't comply with Trump's executive order.
Mills said some have described the letter as a ransom note.
Watch the interview below.
