President Donald Trump’s executive order keeping men out of women’s sports has had its fair share of pushback. Several organizations, including the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) have made it clear that they’d rather not comply with the president by keeping men in their female athletics. Trump, however, has not taken the defiance lightly. For anyone who rejects his order, he’s threatened to pull federal funds. And yet, despite this, Maine decided to put itself on the hotseat anyway.

During a Friday meeting at the White House with state governors, President Trump talked about his “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order. After calling out the state of Maine for not complying with the Title IX rule, Governor Janet Mills (D) found herself in a heated exchange with the president. The interaction went as follows:

TRUMP: “Is … the governor of Maine [here]? Are you not going to comply with it?”

MILLS: “I’m complying with state and federal laws.”

TRUMP: “Well, we are the federal law. Well, you better do it. … [E]ven though it’s somewhat liberal … your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So, you better … comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.”

MILLS: “I’ll see you in court.”

TRUMP: “Good. I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one. And enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”

The exchange has received a lot of attention on social media as well as mainstream outlets. Notably, only days after the viral interaction, a poll was released that “found nearly half of Mainers do not approve of Gov. Janet Mills’ performance, which is the highest disapproval mark for the Democrat who took office in 2018.” Much of the disapproval stemmed from how she handled state budget and finances, as well as a small portion of the dissatisfaction being tied to “her handling of housing and immigration … and health care.”

But regarding Trump’s comments from Friday, he swiftly turned them into action the next day when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officially launched a compliance review of the University of Maine for alleged Title IX violations. “President Trump has made it abundantly clear: taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars will not support institutions that discriminate against women,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. “USDA is committed to upholding the President’s executive order, meaning any institution that chooses to disregard it can count on losing future funding.”

UMaine is “a federally funded land-grant institution,” and it’s currently receiving over $100 million in funding from the USDA.

The USDA compliance review stated that the USDA’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) initiated the review in direct response to “the State of Maine … openly disregarding President Trump’s Executive Order.” Additionally, it warned that, in addition to UMaine, “OASCR will consider reviewing compliance of other educational institutions in the state of Maine that receive funding from USDA.” Ultimately, “should the University of Maine or other entities receiving funds from USDA be found to be out of compliance, additional funding may be in jeopardy.”

Acting Asst. Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor released this statement further underscoring the compliance review:

“Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics — that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls. Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX. If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice. OCR will do everything in its power to ensure taxpayers are not funding blatant civil rights violators.”

Family Research Council’s Meg Kilgannon, a former member of Trump’s first administration and senior fellow for FRC’s Education Studies, weighed in with a comment to The Washington Stand. “It’s great to see President Trump supported by a Cabinet that is fully on board with his agenda,” she said. “We never wondered whether or not President Biden’s Cabinet would support him.”

“Obviously,” she added, “every president should be staffed by officials willing to carry out his agenda. After all, the American public votes for the president based on his campaign and track record.” As such, she concluded, “to see the USDA so quickly launch an investigation into Maine post-secondary schools is heartening. Maine is out of step with federal policy on gender and other educational issues,” and “this will be the first of many legal tests that will ultimately reenforce constitutional presidential authority.”