Despite the best efforts of President Donald Trump, the war on women’s sports is still ongoing, and the Pine Tree State is shaping up to be ground zero in the conflict. After Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) openly defied the Trump administration’s executive order barring biological men from competing in women’s sports, the administration is now attempting to bring Maine into compliance with the executive order’s stipulations. Appearing on Tuesday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Deputy Assistant to President Trump and Senior Policy Strategist May Mailman discussed different measures the president may implement to keep dissident states from waging war on women’s sports.

Already, Mailman recounted, three federal agencies — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Department of Education (DOE) — have launched investigations to potentially strip various Maine programs, particularly the University of Maine, of federal funding. “This is federal law. These are Congress’s tools. Congress, in passing Title IX in 1972, said, ‘Hey, states, we’re going to give you a bunch of money for your education programs, but it comes with a catch. It’s a pretty easy catch: You can’t discriminate on the basis of sex,’” Mailman explained. She added, “And schools signed up for that. ‘All right, I’ll take this money, but I’m not going to discriminate on the basis of sex.’”

“But if you are not providing women private locker rooms, if you are not allowing women fair or safe competition, then you’re discriminating against women,” the Trump administration official clarified. She continued to explain that USDA, HHS, and DOE have consequently launched their investigations. The agencies, she said, are threatening, “‘We’re going to take away your funding, your education funding.’ And from these three agencies, there are other agencies that give money, and there are other pockets of funds that are at risk.” She added, “Maine can very easily say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to have men win women’s pole vaulting competitions,’ and that would be the end of that. But Maine seems like they have no interest in doing that.”

USDA, HHS, and DOE aren’t the only federal agencies at the Trump administration’s disposal. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Mills on Tuesday, warning her that failure to comply with the president’s executive order may result in potential prosecution. Noting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has already sued New York and Illinois, Bondi told Mills that the DOJ “will hold accountable states and state entities that violate federal law.” The attorney general observed that “some state officials in Maine — including yourself — have indicated that they intend to continue to require girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events.”

“Let me be clear. Requiring girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events violates Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972. And under the Constitution, federal law — including Title IX — is ‘the supreme Law of the Land,’” Bondi declared in her letter. She continued, “It therefore does not matter if Maine state law allows, or even requires, state athletic associations or other similar entities to require girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events.” The attorney general further warned, “Maine should be on notice.” She explained that if investigations by USDA, HHS, and DOE reveal that Maine state entities are ignoring or violating Title IX provisions, Bondi and the DOJ are “ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law.”

Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, said in comments to The Washington Stand, “The Trump administration’s commitment to protecting women and girls is much appreciated. It may take the force of the federal government to irradicate this poisonous ideology from our society.” She added, “I’m grateful that President Trump’s cabinet is so committed to the task of ensuring the original protections offered by Title IX.”

Despite her claim that Trump is a “dictator,” Mills and the Maine Democrats have sought to silence opposition within the state to the governor’s dissidence. Republican State Rep. Lauren Libby has spoken out against Maine’s decision to allow biological boys to compete against girls and was recently censured for her efforts. After Libby blasted the Title IX violations as an “outrageous” move that “jeopardizes the safety and privacy of female athletes, all while allowing male athletes to take medals, trophies, and podium spots away from women, effectively erasing them,” the state’s House of Representatives voted to formally censure her Tuesday night.

“Let me be clear: I will not be silenced and I will not allow the voices of Maine girls to be silenced,” Libby declared, following the censure. She continued, “Our girls deserve so much better than the ‘leadership’ that [Governor Janet Mills] and the Maine Democrat Majority are currently offering. I will not be bullied into rejecting basic common sense: biological males have *no place* in girls’ sports. Period.”