Graham Platner, besieged by a damning new accusation, is signaling he may drop out of Maine's U.S. Senate race before Monday's deadline to get off the November ballot as the Democratic nominee.

• Why it matters: Maine was Democrats' best shot at flipping a Senate seat in a razor-tight fight for control of the chamber. Now it's a nightmare, Hans Nichols and Holly Otterbein write in Axios Hill Leaders.

Politico published a detailed account from Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine Democrat who alleged a drunken Platner, whom she had previously dated, sexually assaulted her after barging into her rural Maine home in 2021.

• Platner denied the allegation, calling it "categorically false" in a video on X, but said he's "taking the time" to reflect on "the best path forward." At one point, Platner referred to his campaign in the past tense: "We were united in a focus on defeating Susan Collins."

Racicot had given a vaguer account to The New York Times in a story published last month, saying she found Platner's behavior "reckless" and "unsettling" (gift link).

• After the Politico story dropped yesterday, she detailed the rape allegation in an on-camera interview with CNN's Jake Tapper.

🔎 Zoom in: Platner is bleeding Democratic support fast. The Maine Democratic Party called for his withdrawal. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded he quit "immediately."

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) all rescinded their endorsements.
• Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) went further in a joint statement, saying the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee "will not invest in the Maine Senate race if Platner remains on the ballot."

The big picture: Even before yesterday's report, Democratic strategists and officials feared Platner carried too much baggage to defeat five-term Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.

• Controversies that have hit the oyster farmer's campaign include a Nazi-linked tattoo that he's since covered up, allegations he sent sexual text messages to women outside of his marriage, and offensive social media posts.

👂 What we're hearing: Former state senator Troy Jackson, who placed third in the gubernatorial primary, is one possible replacement, according to people familiar with the matter.

🔭 Zoom out: Democrats always faced an uphill battle in their effort to gain control of the Senate, given the makeup of this year's map. Their troubles in Maine have only made their quest more difficult.

• New York Times/Siena polls released July 1 found Democrats are competitive in six key Senate races, but "not leading in enough to take the chamber."

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Anthropic said yesterday that it has identified an internal workspace Claude uses to hold and manipulate ideas without putting them into words — a structure it says resembles how humans consciously access thoughts, Axios' Ina Fried and Madison Mills write.

• Why it matters: Anthropic hasn't shown that Claude feels or experiences anything. But the discovery gives fresh ammunition to the debate over what would count as machine consciousness.

In a video, the company says Claude uses this "J-space" to plan strategies that can be unrelated to its immediate task and are separate from the "chain of thought" reasoning it shares with users.

• "We can see Claude silently perform reasoning steps in its head—noticing bugs in code, identifying images, and more," Anthropic said in a post on X accompanying its video.

🧠 The intrigue: Anthropic's research paper uses the word "conscious" over 200 times, though the company doesn't go so far as to say its models are conscious.

• Watch the video ... Anthropic's paper ... Share this story.

President Trump arrives at the NATO summit in Ankara today still furious at the allies who refused to help him fight Iran — and determined to make sure they know it, Axios' Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo write.

Why it matters: For years, Trump has openly questioned whether America's closest allies are strong enough, loyal enough or useful enough to deserve the protection they've relied on since World War II.

• Some allies' refusal to open air bases for U.S. strikes on Iran — or to send forces to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz — has hardened his NATO skepticism into open contempt.

Zoom in: Trump has spent the weeks since the Iran war publicly humiliating Europe's leaders.

• He has mocked Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, claiming she "begged" him for a photo at the G7. Yesterday, Trump posted a meme of Meloni with the caption: "Restraining order needed."
• He called outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer weak and suggested his hesitation over Iran showed he was "no Winston Churchill."
• Even NATO chief Mark Rutte — Europe's preeminent "Trump whisperer" — struck out last month when he tried to flatter the president with a gold-lettered chart touting "The Trump Trillion" in allied defense spending.

👀 What to watch: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a six-month review of U.S. forces in Europe last month.

• One U.S. official told Axios the review could lead to adjustments in Europe. A second U.S. official said a "NATO drawdown isn't really on the table" for the summit, but added: "The president isn't happy with the Europeans. It's the same old story."
• U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker told reporters that Trump will push allies to move faster toward spending 5% of GDP on defense.

🇺🇦 Between the lines: Trump's meeting with Zelensky could become the summit's most consequential side drama.

• Ukrainian officials hope the meeting — their second in three weeks — will produce movement on two urgent priorities: Patriot air defense systems and a new U.S. push for a deal to end the war.

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The U.S. crashed out of its home World Cup last night, losing 4–1 to Belgium in Seattle, just after President Trump leaned on FIFA to get striker Folarin Balogun cleared to play.

• The Americans got their best crack at a deep run in a generation with home turf, a soft bracket and a mostly healthy roster, but squandered it in a lopsided and embarrassing exit.

Belgium rested two of its biggest stars and still won comfortably — a measure of how far the Americans remain from soccer's elite.

• The match was nearly over before it started. A Belgium forward scored in the ninth minute, and though the U.S. bounced back on a deflected free kick, the same Belgian struck again two minutes later to take back the lead.
• U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese's blunder, mishandling a ball far outside his net, gave Belgium a third goal, and then the Belgians scored a fourth in the final minute.

For a month, America charmed the soccer world as co-host and won over visiting fans. That goodwill came crashing down after FIFA reversed the suspension of Balogun, the U.S.'s leading scorer.

• The reversal came after Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
• Balogun had been red-carded a match earlier. The reversal drew a rare public rebuke from Europe's soccer establishment.

Cristiano Ronaldo, one of soccer's biggest superstars, teared up on the pitch in Arlington, Texas, after playing in his last World Cup match yesterday. Portugal, where he made his international debut 23 years ago, was eliminated by Spain.

• That ended the World Cup career for the all-time leader in international goals (146) and appearances (233). He's the only player to score goals in six consecutive World Cups.

"I go with a clear conscience," Ronaldo, 41, said after the match.

• Photo gallery: Ronaldo in six World Cups.

Ohio, Oklahoma, Arizona, South Carolina and Minnesota have suffered some of the deepest losses in Obamacare coverage since beefed-up federal subsidies expired this year, Axios' David Nather writes from state-by-state federal data.

• Why it matters: The coverage losses are hitting deep-red states as well as blue ones after Congress let the subsidies expire.

🧮 By the numbers: Ohio and Oklahoma each lost nearly a third of their Obamacare enrollment since last year, according to the state breakdown, first reported by AP.

• Coverage in Arizona, South Carolina and Minnesota dropped by more than a quarter.

Interactive map, with state-by-state data ... Keep reading.

Toyota says it'll move production of the Tacoma pickup truck from Mexico to the United States as part of a $3.6 billion investment in its San Antonio campus, Axios' Joann Muller writes.

• Why it matters: The move allows the Japanese carmaker to sidestep uncertainty regarding U.S. trade policy with Mexico and Canada, and will no doubt please the Trump administration, which has been pressuring automakers to build more vehicles in the United States.

The company says it will add 2,000 jobs in San Antonio, bringing the total workforce to approximately 6,000.

• The current factory, which makes Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs, will double in size by 2030 with the addition of the Tacoma assembly line.
• An axle plant on the same site will open this fall.

🛣️ Between the lines: The announcement is part of Toyota's previously announced $10 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing.

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Terrified by President Trump's tariffs and threats against Greenland, Europe's leaders held a secret January crisis meeting to plot how to survive a rupture with America, according to a deeply reported Wall Street Journal story (gift link).

• Why it matters: European allies are quietly stripping U.S. tech from government systems and pouring billions into homegrown space, AI and data-center firms in what the Journal calls an "unprecedented experiment in de-Americanization."

Nearly 30 leaders gathered for a tense Brussels summit dubbed "therapy night," where French President Emmanuel Macron declared "there is no going back," warning Europe's overreliance on America was a security risk.

• Italy's Giorgia Meloni initially pushed back on the room's mood, arguing Trump could still be reasoned with even if other leaders didn't like him.
• Months later, after Trump's airstrikes on Iran spiked fuel prices across Europe, even Meloni had changed her tune and declared that Trump "is not reasonable."

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Former President George W. Bush turned 8-0 yesterday in Maine.

• His daughter Jenna Bush Hager said her father — a big mountain biker — celebrated with a spin class and a family dinner.

🎈 Big birthday summer: President Trump turned 80 last month. Former President Clinton turns 80 on Aug. 19.