MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle hit back at President Donald Trump after he downplayed Americans’ concerns over rising gas prices caused by the war with Iran.

Earlier this week, when Trump was asked about the cost of fuel and the toll it’s taking on the American people, he told reporters, “If you notice, the price is not very high, relatively speaking. I mean, it’s lower than during the Biden administration.”

While that statement is technically true, Ruhle said the president isn’t telling the full story. 

“Were prices high during the Biden administration? Sure. Specifically, when Russia invaded Ukraine in the summer of 2022, they were high,” the MS NOW host said. At their peak, gas prices under Joe Biden hit $5.07 per gallon, an all-time high.

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Ruhle said Americans were very aware of fuel costs under Biden. “The American people were struggling, and they were angry,” she said. “They were angry about gas prices and grocery prices and healthcare prices.”

As she explained, that concern was a key reason many Americans chose to back Trump in the last election. “The cost of living is one of the reasons Joe Biden and subsequently Kamala Harris did not win the 2024 election, and what Donald Trump promised was to lower prices on Day 1,” she said.

Once inside the White House, however, Trump delivered exactly the opposite. According to AAA, the current national average for a gallon of gas is $4.15 — much higher than the $3.13 per gallon Americans were paying at the end of Biden’s term.

“As a direct result of some of his policies, whether we’re talking about mass deportations or tariffs, or now the war in Iran, we are seeing increased costs,” Ruhle said, adding that the American people’s anger toward the administration over rising costs is reflected by the president’s sinking approval ratings.

“Prices are high right now, and the American people are taking notice,” she said.

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Graham Platner overcame a wave of personal controversies Tuesday to secure the Democratic nomination in Maine’s U.S. Senate race. In an interview on “Morning Joe,” the oyster farmer and Marine veteran downplayed concerns that allegations about his past behavior could come back to haunt Democrats in the midterm elections as they seek to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins and retake the Senate in November.

Platner told MS NOW that recent reports — which include accusations from former girlfriends of threatening behavior and allegations that he sent women sexually explicit text messages outside of his marriage — were “entirely blown out of proportion as to what the reality of the situation is.”

Platner has denied any allegations of physicality in his past relationships, while acknowledging that he and his wife, Amy, “had some struggles” early in their marriage.

“We worked through them because that’s what you do when you’re in love with somebody, and it made our marriage much stronger,” he said Wednesday morning.

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski pressed Platner over whether his alleged behavior could affect his ability to fight on behalf of survivors and “call out those who have abused women,” such as Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. He told MS NOW that the two situations were very different.

“I engaged in consensual romantic activities with adults at an earlier part of my life; that seems like a fairly normal thing most people do,” he said. “Going to an island with billionaires to possibly assault children is a vastly, vastly different thing.”

When asked whether more stories about his past behavior could emerge before November’s election, the Democrat said, “There is nothing out there that will run counter to any of the stories that I’ve talked about openly this entire campaign.”

“I’ve been very open about the fact that I struggled, very open about the fact I had a long litany of failed relationships for years because I myself was not in a good place,” he said. “And then every now and again, we will have a media outlet or politically motivated attack come up and try to drag it all up, but it’s all very much within the exact same story that I’ve told this entire time.”

Platner has spoken at length about his struggles with PTSD, depression and alcohol abuse, which he attributes to his time in the U.S. military. The Marine and Army veteran served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

“I came out of the infantry in a time where we just didn’t really talk about the fact that we were all suffering,” he said. “It was this whole idea that we’re just going to be tough and get through it — and it was not an effective solution.”

Platner said it was not until he returned to Maine in 2016 that he sought help for his struggles and began treatment.

“Much like getting over any kind of trauma, there isn’t like one day where you’re not doing well and then one day you’re magically good again,” he said. “It’s a journey.”

Platner said the road to recovery is “continuous” and something he works on daily. “I wake up every single morning just trying to be a little bit better and a little bit kinder than the way I was before,” he said.

You can watch Platner’s full interview on “Morning Joe” in the clip at the top of the page.

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