Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner’s deleted Reddit account continues to affect his campaign after his post slamming a Purple Heart-winning Army veteran goes viral again. Pfc. Ted Daniels, a Purple Heart recipient whose combat helmet footage went viral in 2012, has condemned Graham Platner after his old Reddit comments surfaced showing Platner allegedly saying the soldier “didn’t deserve to live.”

Daniels, who was hit four times during his service, said that he was less concerned about an apology from Platner but more concerned about Democrats who have continued supporting his campaign and not distanced themselves from his comments.

Daniels told the NY Post:

“I’m very thick-skinned, and he said it. I don’t want an apology, and any apology from him [Graham] at this point would definitely not be sincere.”

“What I’d really like is for Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Hakeem Jeffries, and everybody else on the far left to tell my children to their face that they are endorsing and supporting a man who said that their father should not have lived. Cheering on the death of their father.”

Daniels is a decorated Army veteran who survived a Taliban firefight in Afghanistan and became nationally known in 2012. He became famous after helmet-cam footage captured him intentionally moving into the open to draw fire away from other men in his unit.

 

The footage showed Daniels moving into open terrain while bullets flew around him in an attempt to divert enemy fire away from his squad. He was given a Purple Heart for surviving severe injuries.

Daniels was a 37-year-old father of two serving with seven other soldiers at that time, and after the video went viral, the Democratic candidate sneered at Daniels from his burner account on Reddit P-Hustle. He wrote at that time:

“This video never gets old. Dumb mother—er didn’t deserve to live. At least his stupidity and fat ass wheezing are available for all future infantrymen to witness and hold in contempt.”

Daniels also accused Platner of repeatedly targeting veterans who served honorably. In the past, Platner has made comments about Chris Kyle for slaughtering civilians to increase his kill count and Vice President JD Vance for sitting in an “air-conditioned office.”

Daniels said:

“I don’t understand the abhorrent malcontent for veterans that went out there and served honorably. That gets me. It’s extremely odd that he does stuff like that.”

Meanwhile, Platner has denied disrespecting veterans and declined to apologize. He told Fox News:

“I did four tours in the infantry; any attempt to say that I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive. Do you know how many of my friends have Purple Hearts?”

While the Democratic candidate declined to apologize, Daniels argued that he can only make comments online and will not ever say the same thing to his face. He said:

“I’m a pretty intimidating person to stand in front of, and it’s easy for them to shoot a mouth off behind a keyboard, but face to face, it’s crickets, and I kind of wonder what Graham Platner’s response would be if he were face to face with me.”

This comes after Daniels has accepted that his move was “tactically not a sound thing to do,” but it did save his squad. He also added that while Platner has made those comments, it doesn’t bother him because he may have felt “jaded” for not getting any attention during his service.

Daniels said:

“I’m not going to come after Graham Platner and his service. He’s still a brother. Okay, were his comments way out of line? Sure. Do I lose sleep over it? No, absolutely not.”

“There’s a lot of folks out there who feel jaded that other veterans they feel got unfair or undue attention due to their service, and they didn’t get any.”