Donald Trump calls Graham Platner a 'thug' one day after Senate primary victory

President Donald Trump unleashed on Graham Platner Wednesday, repeatedly calling the Democrat a "thug" and a loser one day after the Democrat easily clinched the party's Senate nomination.

Trump made the comments during an Oval Office ceremony to sign a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill. He didn't mention Platner by name. But it was clear who the president meant as he spent more than three minutes bashing Platner while repeatedly referring to Democrats as "Dumb-o-crats" as the Republican lawmakers around him chuckled.

"I watched that thug that's up in Maine," Trump said. "He's a thug and they are trying to make excuses for him. I mean, he is worse than any human being that has run for office probably."

The Platner campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But throughout his campaign, the candidate has described Trump as deeply corrupt, immoral and a threat to American democracy. And he has accused his opponent this fall, Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of failing to stand up to the Trump administration.

Platner, a Marine Corps veteran and oysterman from Hancock County, won more than 70% of the primary vote on Tuesday roughly 10 months after the political newcomer exploded onto the national stage with his populist, progressive campaign. This was despite a string of controversies surrounding his past personal life that included revelations that he had sent sexually explicit text messages to several women early in his marriage and news stories describing turbulent and "toxic" relationships with former romantic partners.

Platner has said repeatedly that he was not always the best boyfriend during the "dark" years when he battled PTSD resulting from four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he has cast his campaign as offering proof of redemption and has refuted any allegations that he behaved threateningly toward women.

The Democrat has also cast the attacks on his personal life as proof that his candidacy threatens the political establishment in D.C. because they are trying to shift the focus away from the issues.

On Wednesday, Platner's campaign released a new ad saying that some of the most powerful Democrats and Republicans in the country traveled to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's private island.

"It seems the only thing the party establishments can agree on is a love of Jeffrey Epstein — and a hatred of me," Platner says in the ad. "Together we will take back our government from the Epstein class."