Former U.S. President Donald Trump made this false claim during an August 2024 event with the conservative organization Moms for Liberty. No evidence exists of schools performing any such surgeries, regardless of the idea of parental permission. Afterward, CNN reported that Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice — who spoke with Trump at the event — said of his remarks, "Are kids getting surgery in school? No they’re not." Justice and her organization also shared by email their concerns about schools facilitating social transitions for children.
On Aug. 30, 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump sat down for a discussion with Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the conservative organization Moms for Liberty. During the talk, Trump claimed that children had received gender-affirming surgeries inside schools, including without their parents' knowledge.
Justice brought up the subject, telling Trump, "There's been an explosion in the number of children who identify as transgender, and children are being taught that they were born in the wrong body. It's an incredibly abusive message to send. So let's talk a little bit about some of the things that you might be able to do as president."
Trump answered, "Well, you can do everything. President has such power. It does. It has such power."
Moments later, he added, "But the transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what's going to happen with your child. And you know, many of these childs [sic] 15 years later say, 'What the hell happened? Who did this to me?' They say, 'Who did this to me?' It's incredible."
Readers can watch these remarks in this video from the LiveNOW from Fox YouTube channel beginning at the 38:11 mark:
Moms for Liberty: 'Are Kids Getting Surgery in School? No, They're Not.'
CNN extensively reported on this claim and others Trump made during the discussion. The article featured interviews with medical professionals who refuted the idea of childrens' surgeries being secretly carried out inside schools.
For example, Dr. Meredithe McNamara , an assistant professor of pediatrics specializing in adolescent medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, told CNN, "Of course everything in this statement is false." By email, we asked McNamara whether she had ever seen evidence of even one such surgery occurring inside a U.S. school. She answered, "No, I absolutely have not."
In CNN's reporting, the network also said Justice responded to its correspondence, saying in part, "Are kids getting surgery in school? No they're not." CNN further reported that Trump's campaign shared no evidence of any such activity occurring inside schools.
Snopes also contacted other professionals in the field of pediatrics and the Trump campaign, but we did not yet receive responses.
We reached out to Moms for Liberty by email to ask further questions. In response, we received several statements, including one scolding CNN for not including part of the organization's correspondence that detailed five court cases involving lawsuits about schools assisting students in "socially transitioning" from one gender to another. To be clear, none of the five cases involved children undergoing medical operations inside of schools.
Trump and Justice Misleadingly Questioned Olympic Athletes' Genders
Trump's false claim about surgeries taking place inside schools wasn't the only misleading moment from the discussion.
Both before and following his false remarks about surgeries in schools, Trump also falsely said Algerian female boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting — who both won gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics — were transgender. However, as we previously reported , Khelif was assigned female at birth, meaning she has always lived as a woman. Yahoo Sports published the same about Lin.
Justice also misleadingly questioned the two athletes' genders, stressing to Trump the pronoun "he" two times in a row. Justice then followed her misinformed comment by saying, "I'm a mom. I have to protect my kids."
For further reading, we previously reported about a false rumor claiming 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill allowing "gender reassignment surgery for children" in his state.
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