'American Sniper' widow torches Graham Platner over 'cowardly' attacks on late husband

WASHINGTON, DC: Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner is facing mounting backlash over his comments about the US Army and service members, with Chris Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, now publicly condemning the remarks.

The progressive Democrat had alleged that Chris Kyle had inflated his kill number by killing innocent people, prompting a sharp reaction from his wife, who described his statement as “cowardly.”

"Nothing says, I want attention more than disparaging a national hero who's also dead..." Taya Kyle responded on Fox News's 'The Sunday Briefing'. "It is cowardly, it's lowbrow to lie about somebody else, and it distracts from what you've probably said..."

Kyle accused Platner of employing a "cheap political trick" to attach his name to someone who is "beloved.” "That's working for him to get that notoriety, but to me, it shows a total inability to lead with character. For me he would be out of the running immediately," she added.

Platner, who has also recently been making headlines for his controversial remarks about the Army and wounded Army veteran Teddy Daniels, is challenging incumbent Republican Sen Susan Collins in the upcoming Maine Senate run.

Graham Platner accused Chris Kyle of shooting 'indiscriminately'

Platner's remarks came from a 2024 episode of the 'Green Beret Chronicle Show', a podcast discussing military affairs.

"His stories about how many people he was shooting certainly tracked with the behavior I witnessed, and people I knew witnessed down at the Gov Center, which is its relatively easy to get high numbers like that if you're a little less discriminating with your fire than say a more professional unit would be," Platner said.

Platner has come under fire for his resurfaced old posts from his now-deleted Reddit account, where he reportedly trashed a wounded soldier, Teddy Daniels, who was shot by the Taliban and later awarded the Purple Heart.

In the post, Platner criticized Daniels’s battlefield tactics during a clash with Taliban fighters in 2012 and wrote that the "dumb motherf****r didn’t deserve to live."

Graham Platner called the Army 'trash'

"I spent another 4 in the Army after the Corps, and while I was very lucky to serve in some s**t hot units with good dudes, as a whole the organization is absolute trash," Platner reportedly wrote in another resurfaced Reddit post in April 2019.

"I am not one to totally bad mouth the Army. It does have some squared away fighting units and good guys, as well as some better doctrine here and there. But it is absolutely lacking in the warrior ethos and leadership obsession that the Corps has, and generally attracts a lower standard of person," he allegedly wrote.

Platner, a Marine Corps veteran, said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to explain the volume of incendiary social media posts that have surfaced since he announced his Senate run.

Platner also told Fox News Digital that "any attempt to say I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive."