CNN was forced to issue a humiliating correction Wednesday after incorrectly “fact-checking” President Donald Trump’s claim about government funding for transgender mice studies during his address to Congress.
In his Tuesday night speech, Trump listed examples of government waste identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), including “$8 million for making mice transgender.”
CNN quickly published a fact-check labeling the statement false, but was later forced to retract their claim when the White House provided detailed evidence supporting the president’s figure.
“Trump falsely claimed that the Department of Government Efficiency identified government spending of ‘$8 million for making mice transgender,'” CNN’s original fact check read.
The White House responded with a strongly worded statement defending Trump’s claim with a list of six specific National Institutes of Health grants from former President Joe Biden’s administration that totaled $8,290,053 for studies involving transsexual treatments in mice.
“The Fake News losers at CNN immediately tried to fact check it, but President Trump was right (as usual),” the White House statement declared before listing the grants in detail.
The White House evidence included a $455,000 taxpayer-funded study titled “A Mouse Model to Test the Effects of Gender-affirming Hormone Therapy on HIV Vaccine-induced Immune Responses” and a $2.5 million grant for “Reproductive Consequences of Steroid Hormone Administration.”
Other studies included $299,940 of taxpayer money spent for a study of “incidences and tumor specific survival in female mice (intact) and oophorectomized female mice receiving TT [testosterone therapy],” $735,113 spent on a study on “Microbiome mediated effects of gender affirming hormone therapy in mice,” $3.1 million thrown at a study of “Gonadal hormones as mediators of sex and gender influences in asthma,” and $1.2 million taxpayer cash spent on “Androgen effects on the reproductive neuroendocrine axis.”
Following the White House’s detailed rebuttal, CNN updated its article, changing “Trump falsely claimed” that $8 million in taxpayer cash was wasted on transgender mice studies to “This claim needs context” but the spending was important for “gender-affirming care.”
An earlier version of this item incorrectly characterized as false Trump’s claim about federal money being spent for “making mice transgender.” The article has been updated with context about the spending, which was for research studies on the potential human health impacts of treatments used in gender-affirming care.
In other words: Yes, the Biden administration spent $8 million in taxpayer cash on transgender mice.