President Donald Trump’s administration denied Maine’s request to have more time to respond to federal questions about the state’s Medicaid program — but sent the denial to a conservative news outlet before sharing it with the state, according to Gov. Janet Mills.

On Feb. 6, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, sent Mills and Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Sara Gagne-Holmes a letter that requested information on the MaineCare program, including a list of all current providers. He also asked more than 30 wide-ranging questions.

The health department’s general counsel, Emily Atkins Cathcart, responded to Oz in a Feb. 19 letter requesting a 30-day extension to answer the questions. She said the state was otherwise “working diligently on gathering records and information.”

Oz responded last Friday to deny the state’s extension request, but told the news arm of the conservative Maine Policy Institute about the denial before Mills and Gagne-Holmes received it, according to the governor’s office. The conservative Maine Wire posted a story on the rejection last Friday that it billed as an “exclusive.” The state said it received Oz’ response later Friday evening.

It was the latest example of Trump and Maine’s Democratic governor butting heads over alleged fraud in Maine’s Medicaid program. The flap stemmed from a U.S. Office of Inspector General report in January that outlined $45 million in potential improper payments for autism support services in the MaineCare program.

While Oz linked Maine to ongoing fraud investigations in Minnesota, the Mills administration stressed at the time that the report highlighted potential issues rather than confirmed cases of fraud.

Mills also accused Oz and Trump in February of using the MaineCare allegations as a “pretense” for the ramped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that came to Maine in January.

Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman said Wednesday the state will respond to the Trump administration’s MaineCare-related questions within the original 30-day timeframe that is set to expire this week. Goodman said the Trump administration’s denial and decision to share it with a conservative outlet first “are proof that the substance and merits of that response do not matter.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Maine’s Medicaid program had “raised substantial federal concerns.”

“We look forward to reviewing the state’s complete response within the original deadline and working to ensure Maine’s Medicaid program operates with the highest standards of integrity,” the spokesperson said.

In a Wednesday statement posted to X and signed by its editor-in-chief, Steve Robinson, the Maine Wire took credit for being “the first outlet to report that [Mills had] unsuccessfully requested an extension on her homework” and bashed the governor for being down in the polls in her U.S. Senate race against Democrat Graham Platner.

Goodman, on behalf of Mills, called the federal government’s actions “yet another attempt to attack and intimidate those who dare stand up to Trump’s abuses of power.”

“The outcome of this inquiry, like all those the Trump administration launches, is predetermined because this is not a ‘war on fraud’ — it is a war on those who stand up to the president,” he said.