The town of Cumberland, Maine — about 20 miles north of Portland — has landed at the heart of the battle between President Trump and Governor Janet Mills over transgender athletes.

President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to strip Maine of its federal funding if it refuses to comply with his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports, marking the White House’s latest front in the nation’s culture wars.

Proclaiming his administration as "federal law," the president demanded that Maine comply with his executive order banning transgender women from participating in women and girls' sports. Mills told the president that the state won't be intimidated and reiterated her vow to challenge him in court if he denies the state millions in federal cash.

The back-and-forth came in the middle of the president’s remarks welcoming the nation’s governors to the White House.

The Education Department on Friday launched a probe into Maine's transgender student sports participation policy after the president threatened the state's federal funding at a meeting of governors at the White House.

The PIAA voted to remove a policy that had deferred to school principals to determine an athlete’s “gender” when “questioned or uncertain,” and instead approved one that officials said was