NY Times and top Democrats colluded to keep Platner viable

Tim Scott accuses New York Times of delaying Platner allegations to shield Schumer and Senate Democrats

Sen. Tim Scott, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, accused The New York Times and senior Senate Democrats of coordinating to suppress damaging allegations against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, buying time, Scott charged, for the party to protect a seat it desperately needs.

The accusation follows a week in which Platner's candidacy collapsed. A bombshell report alleged the Democrat raped his ex-girlfriend, Jenny Racicot. Democratic lawmakers and organizations abandoned him almost overnight, a dramatic reversal from months of institutional backing.

But Scott says the reversal came far too late, and that the people now running from Platner are the same ones who propped him up while warning signs piled up for nearly a year.

The real question, in Scott's telling, is why a newspaper of record and a political party both sat on what they knew.

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