SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — Maine officials sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to try to stop the government from freezing federal money in the wake of a dispute over transgender athletes in sports.
Trump and Maine, which is controlled by Democrats, are in the midst of a weeks long dispute about the Title IX anti-discrimination law and the participation of transgender students in high school sports. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said earlier this month that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was pausing some funds for Maine educational programs because of what she described as Maine's failure to comply with the Title IX law.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey filed a complaint in federal court on Monday that described the pause as “illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed.” The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order preventing the USDA from withholding money until a court is able to hear the case.
In a statement, Frey said, the president and his Cabinet “secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
The child nutrition program of the Maine Department of Education is unable to access several sources of funding at the moment because of the funding pause, Frey said. The money is used to feed children in schools, childcare centers and after-school programs and is also used to benefit disabled adults in congregate settings, he said.
The lawsuit states that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also says that the program was anticipating about $3 million that is typically awarded every July for summer meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.
USDA officials did not return a request for comment.
Rollins said in a letter to Maine Gov. Janet Mills on April 2 that the state “cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated.” The letter said the funding pause did not impact federal feeding programs.
“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX’s protection of female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Rollins' letter said.
Tensions between Maine and the Trump administration have simmered since February when Trump threatened to pull funding from Maine if the state does not comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports. Mills, who was present at the White House for a meeting of governors, told the president: “We'll see you in court.”
The Trump administration has vowed to cancel more federal funding if Maine does not bar transgender athletes from sports participation soon.
FILE - Democratic Gov. Janet Mills delivers her State of the State address, Jan. 30, 2024, at the State House in Augusta, Maine. Mills vetoed on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, a bill to establish a minimum hourly wage for agricultural workers that she initially submitted herself. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
PARIS (AP) — Kylian Mbappé’s legal team is going on the attack with multiple lawsuits to try and resolve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club Paris Saint-Germain.
The France striker argues PSG owes him 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages, and his lawyers say they have asked the Paris court to start proceedings.
Legal expert Thomas Clay said Mbappé has been authorized to make a precautionary seizure of the money, which was frozen from PSG’s bank accounts on Thursday. A legal hearing is scheduled for May 26, he added.
“This story has been going on for just over a year now. One year was the deadline we set for ourselves for trying to resolve this dispute as peacefully as possible,” Mbappé’s main lawyer, Delphine Verheyden, said.
“As the months went by, Kylian Mbappé still hasn’t been paid the missing 55 million euros. A decision has been taken, this time to go on the attack.”
Verheyden said they were also asking the French sports minister to intervene and to legally challenge a decision by the appeals commission of the French Football Federation, which ruled that Mbappé’s appeal against PSG was not receivable.
Separately, she said that Mbappé has asked the federation to inform UEFA that PSG failed to pay him what he was owed, in breach of the club's salary obligations. Verheyden suggested that if PSG was found responsible it could lose the licence allowing the team to play in the Champions League.
Last October, the French league appeals commission upheld the decision ordering PSG to pay Mbappé the unpaid wages he wants. Mbappé claims the club owes him three months’ salary and the last third of a loyalty bonus.
He joined Real Madrid last summer on a free transfer after scoring a club-record 256 goals in seven years at PSG.
PSG argued that when Mbappé was sidelined before the 2023-24 season — following his decision not to extend his contract — there was a verbal agreement with him opting to relinquish bonuses in order to return to the team.
“They have not shown any evidence of any agreement,” Verheyden said.
Mbappé’s relationship with PSG ended amid deep tensions and some fans booed him in his last home game at Parc des Princes. PSG felt let down by Mbappé after offering him the most lucrative contract in club history when he signed a new contract in 2022.
But Mbappé was frustrated because he felt promises to sign key players were not kept. When he signed that deal, he was paraded in front of fans holding up a jersey with 2025 on it. Mbappé was reportedly annoyed because the contract was until 2024 — with a player’s option for an extra season.
Mbappé stunned PSG in June 2023 by informing the club he would not take the option for an extra year. With his contract effectively into its final year, it put PSG in the position of needing to sell Mbappé to avoid losing him for nothing when the contract expired.
His PSG career could have ended that summer amid a tense transfer standoff.
After telling the club he would not extend, Mbappé was left off a preseason tour to Japan and South Korea and forced to train with fringe players. PSG said it would rather sell him than let the player leave for free in 2024, but he rejected a 300 million euros move to Saudi Arabia team Al-Hilal.
PSG left Mbappé out of the opening league game of that season but he soon returned to the lineup following talks. Mbappé’s legal team said on Thursday it will start an action against PSG for harassment because of the way he was treated.
They will also start another legal procedure before an industrial tribunal, while Mbappé and his mother have filed lawsuits for the abuse they received online.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Kylian Mbappe's lawyers Delphine Verheyden, second right, Frederique Cassereau, right, Thomas Clay and Pierre-Olivier Sur, right, attend a press conference, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Kylian Mbappe's lawyer Delphine Verheyden attends a press conference as Kylian Mbappe's legal team is going on the attack to try and solve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club PSG., Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Kylian Mbappe's lawyers Pierre Olivier Sur, right, shows a document as Thomas Clay looks on, during a press conference as Kylian Mbappe's legal team is going on the attack to try and solve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club PSG, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Kylian Mbappe's mother Fayza Lamari, and his father Wilfried Mbappe attend a press conference as Kylian Mbappe's legal team is going on the attack to try and solve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club PSG, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
FILE - Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe applauds fans at the end of the Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Arsenal and Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in London, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Kylian Mbappé's legal team is going on the attack to try and solve the legal dispute between the World Cup winner and his former club PSG. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
