Maine Gov. Janet Mills speaks to President Donald Trump as he delivered remarks during a governors working session in the State Dining Room at the White House on Friday. Francis Chung/Politico via AP

Gov. Janet Mills is warning that “the rule of law” is at stake after President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Maine’s refusal to ban transgender athletes.

After a heated exchange with the president Friday afternoon, Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey have vowed to fight any effort by President Trump to block federal funding over state’s transgender athlete policy.

Mills, a Democrat serving her second term as governor, previously served as Maine’s attorney general and district attorney over Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. Her latest statement leaned on her legal background, calling Trump’s actions “a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.”

Her latest statement joins a growing chorus of those calling the results of the Trump administration’s actions a “constitutional crisis” as it aggressively cuts government spending and reduces the federal workforce without the approval of Congress.

In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday, Maine’s Independent Sen. Angus King challenged Republicans to take a stand rather than rely on the courts to stop constitutional overreach, calling that “a cop-out” and “an abdication of our responsibility.”

Read Gov. Mills’ full statement below: 

“I have spent my career — as a District Attorney, as Attorney General, and now as Governor — standing up for the rule of law in Maine and America. To me, that is fundamentally what is at stake here: the rule of law in our country.

“No President — Republican or Democrat — can withhold Federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will. It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.

“Maine may be one of the first states to undergo an investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last. Today, the President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: who and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or think differently? Where does it end? In America, the President is neither a King nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it — and it is the rule of law that prevents him from being so.

“I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined. My Administration will begin work with the Attorney General to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law. But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”