Former Biden aide DEFENDS Maine Dem Senate hopeful Platner's Nazi tattoo

Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain is standing by embattled Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner for sporting a Nazi tattoo.

Klain, who recently hosted a fundraiser for Platner in Washington, told the Jewish News Syndicate that he accepts the candidate's explanation regarding the tattoo. "I find it believable," Klain told JNS. "He has denied Ms. Fifield’s claim that he knew the tattoo to be a Totenkopf, and I believe Mr. Platner’s account."

Klain also defended Platner publicly after the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) demanded that Senate Democrats withdraw their support for the candidate. Responding in an Instagram comment, Klain dismissed the criticism as "just a partisan attack."

"The tattoo was a skull and crossbones to remember his fallen comrades from his service in Afghanistan," Klain wrote.

The controversy centers on a Totenkopf tattoo that Platner has since covered. The symbol, commonly associated with Adolf Hitler's SS, was used by Nazi units involved in administering concentration camps and carrying out the Holocaust. Platner has maintained that he was unaware of the symbol's Nazi associations when he got the tattoo. However, Lindsey Fifield, who previously dated Platner, has alleged that he understood its meaning at the time. She also told the New York Times about the alleged abuse she suffered while dating the Democratic candidate.

On Tuesday, the Republican Jewish Coalition called on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats to cut ties with Platner's campaign. "A Nazi tattoo is disqualifying. Full stop," the RJC said in a statement. "Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America, and every Senate Democrat propping up Platner’s campaign should be ashamed."

RJC spokesman Sam Markstein sharply criticized Klain's defense of the candidate, arguing that Klain's background leaves little room for misunderstanding the symbol's historical significance. "He is President Biden’s former White House chief of staff, Airbnb’s chief legal officer and a former member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council," Markstein told JNS. "He knows exactly what the insignia of the Nazi SS represents."

"Klain chose to host a fundraiser for Graham Platner anyway and is now whitewashing the Totenkopf skull and crossbones itself. It’s a total disgrace," Markstein added. "One after another, prominent Jewish Democrats are lining up behind Graham Platner, a candidate caught wearing the insignia of the unit that ran the Holocaust death camps."

Markstein also pointed to the support Platner has received from other prominent Democrats. "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is Jewish, calls him 'excellent.' Chuck Schumer gives his full endorsement. Klain writes the check and writes the excuse," he said.

Markstein further called on Airbnb, which currently employs Klain, to address his involvement. "Airbnb owes the Jewish community an answer about whether this represents the values and position of their company," he told JNS. "The American Jewish community is watching, and we will remember."