The president signed the an executive order earlier this month.
At a White House event with a bipartisan group of governors Friday, President Donald Trump briefly sparred with Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills after threatening to withhold federal funds from her state over the issue of transgender athletes.
The back-and-forth came as Trump discussed his executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.
“Are you not going to comply with that?” Trump asked Mills directly.
Gov. Janet Mills reacts after challenging U.S. President Donald Trump over federal law on the issue of trans women in sports as Trump addressed a meeting of governors at the White House, Feb. 21, 2025 in Washington.
She responded that she would comply with state and federal laws.
“Well, I’m — we are the federal law,” Trump said, adding, “Well, you better do it. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
Mills responded: “See you in court.”
“Good,” Trump replied. “I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be an easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics,” Trump said.
After Friday’s White House gathering, Mills released a statement about Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding.
President Donald Trump speaks at the Governors Working Session at the White House in Washington, Feb. 21, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
“If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President’s threats.”
Also on Friday, the Department of Education sent a letter to a Maine education official announcing a “directed investigation” of the Maine Department of Education “amid allegations that it continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics,” the department said in a news release.
The department cited a Maine high school which it said is “continuing to allow at least one male student to compete in girls’ categories.”
Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order earlier this month, which directs federal agencies to interpret federal Title IX rules as prohibiting the participation of transgender girls and women in female sports categories.
