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Trump Signs Order Banning Transgender Athletes from Women's Sports. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 05, 2025 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Any minute now, President Trump is expected to sign this executive order that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. The order leans on the federal law, Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities that receive funding from the federal government. And critics claim trans athletes hold an unfair advantage over their competitors.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Joining us now is Chris Mosier. He's an advocate, the first transgender athlete to represent the United States in international competition. And the founder of transathlete.com.

Chris, thanks so much for being with us. I wonder what your reaction is to Trump signing this executive order. How do you weigh the impact that this would have on athletes?

CHRIS MOSIER, TRANSGENDER ATHLETE: We knew that this was coming. This was a campaign promise that the Republicans put a lot of money into in the lead up to the presidential election and has been a pillar of their party for the last several years. So it's not a surprise that this is coming today.

It's disappointing, though, that this is happening on National Women and Girls in Sports Day and taking away from some of the actual real things that people can do to support women and girls in sports.

KEILAR: So when you hear people say this is how it should be. Trans athletes have a competitive advantage over non-trans athletes. What do you say to them?

MOSIER: There's no evidence that trans athletes have an advantage over anyone else in sports. Trans athletes play sports for the same reasons as anybody else, for our love of the game, to be a part of a team, to challenge ourselves, and most of all, for the youth level, to have fun. And every young person deserves that opportunity to be their authentic self and to play the sports that they love without compromising any part of who they are.

[15:35:03]

SANCHEZ: I'm curious about that, Chris, because you say that there's no evidence that there's a competitive advantage, but we've heard from parents who've had a different experience. They've argued that there is irrefutable evidence, irrefutable differences in physiology between the sexes that hormone therapies don't sufficiently level the playing field. Do you get where they're coming from?

MOSIER: We have to look at what we're talking about here. And if we're talking about youth sports, -- youth sports is part of our educational system, and as part of our educational system, young people learn values such as discipline, hard work, leadership, teamwork, communication skills, and so much more from their participation in sports.

We know that each body is different, every person is different, and that even amongst cisgender kids, that is, kids that are not transgender, there are differences in their strength, their speed, their ability, their natural ability, as well as differences in their access to good coaching, to great equipment, to things like rest and recovery or proper nutrition, all of the things that go into making someone be a good athlete.

And I think that people don't really consider those other factors, the laser focus has been on hormone therapy or testosterone, and when we're talking about young kids, which is part of what this executive order will be applying to, I think we really missed the mark when we're focusing so heavily on biology and not on the lived experience of kids who are just trying to have the educational experience as their peers.

KEILAR: The executive order specifically targets trans women who want to participate in women's sports. Why do you think trans men are not included in this conversation, and what do you think about that?

MOSIER: There has just been an obsession on trans people's bodies, and particularly on trans women's bodies, and that's really evident here. You know, I think part of the reason from my own experience of being a trans man participating in men's sports and the difference between myself and any trans woman who just wants to play is that trans men don't fit this narrative that the Republicans are setting up. They don't fit the narrative that anyone assigned female at birth will be a worse athlete, that people assigned male at birth are bigger, faster, stronger, and better athletes.

We know that that's not true. Not every person assigned male at birth is a good athlete, and when we do have trans men who are able to participate in the men's category, we're largely ignored. And so, I think that the issue here is really that laser focus, and it goes to a bigger picture of not just impacting sports but really impacting and thinking about trying to legislate away the trans community, and sports has just been the entry point to other areas of discrimination against our community, including health care access, safety in schools, removing things from school curriculum about transgender people, and so on.

So we can see that this is a part of a larger picture, and the talking point of trying to ban trans women and girls from girls and women's sports has just been so incredibly divisive that it's been what they've latched onto to kick off this form of discrimination against our community. SANCHEZ: You mentioned Republicans framing this, and there's no doubt that this has become a pet issue on the right. I do wonder what you think about certain Democrats, like Seth Moulton, for example, who has voiced his discomfort as a parent with his young daughters competing against trans athletes. He's not the only Democrat who's voiced those concerns. What's your response to them?

MOSIER: It's incredibly upsetting and disappointing, regardless of one's political party, when people make such drastic and impactful decisions about our participation in sports without actually knowing or speaking to transgender people. I think what the real issue here is a lack of education, combined with the fact that both the media, social media, and political rhetoric has really influenced the way that cisgender people think about, talk about, and treat the trans community. And we're seeing that play out not just in sports, but in other areas of our lives as well.

SANCHEZ: Chris Mosier, very much appreciate you coming on and sharing your point of view. Thanks for joining us.

MOSIER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, there's new radar data that could offer more clues on what caused that midair collision near Reagan National Airport. We have a live report with the latest details, straight ahead.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Let's go to the White House now, where President Trump is having a large ceremony around his executive order signing, which will ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... It doesn't have to be long. In a few moments, I'll sign a historic executive order to ban men from competing in women's sports. It's about time.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls. From now on, women's sports will be only for women.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But before going further, I want to share some very exciting news from our military.

After years of shrinking force numbers at levels that nobody has ever seen before, four years of this we went through, and missed recruiting targets every single month, it was just announced that in December, the U.S. Army had its single best recruitment in more than 15 years.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thanks.

Every single day, nearly 350 new soldiers enlisted to defend our nation. And they're very, very happy to have done so. We've done lots of interviews, and we asked why this was taking place now, and they just said there's a spirit about our country that they haven't seen in many, many years. And I happen to agree with that.

But it really is clear proof that the spirit is sweeping our armed forces, and we have a great leader in Pete, as you know. We all know Pete so well. He's going to be fantastic, and so many of our great heroes, and people are starting to understand what hero is all about.

So that is something that is very important. We've gotten the woke lunacy out of our military.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And now we're, very importantly, getting it out of women's sports. That's taking place very strongly.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So in recent years, the radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological sex and replace it with a militant transgender ideology. You've heard a little bit about this, haven't you, huh, just a little bit?

Does anybody agree with them?

CROWD: No.

TRUMP: Would be not a good thing to say yes right here.

Female athletes have been forced onto the front lines, and men claiming to be girls have stolen more than 3,500 victories -- that's a lot -- and invaded more than 11,000 competitions designed for women.

Last year, a male cyclist posing as a woman competed in the 800-mile Arizona Trail Race -- a very big deal in cycling -- and obliterated the woman's course record by nearly five and a half hours. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it, huh? Five and a half hours.

Oh, but you have to hear the weightlifting records. You think that's bad. The weightlifting's worse.

In 2023, a man in women's powerlifting broke two world records and outlifted his closest female opponent in one event by 440 pounds. And they continue to defend themselves, Mr. Congressman. You know that, right? They continue to defend themselves.

We hope they continue onward because I don't think we could lose a race. This was one of the big reasons that we all won, and it's one of the big reasons that we had a record, a landslide like they haven't seen before -- very often, anyway.

[15:45:00]

And who could forget last year's Paris Olympics, where a male boxer stole the women's gold medal after brutalizing his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit just after 46 seconds. And she was a championship fighter. And actually, they had two women or two people that transitioned, and both of them won gold medals. And they won them very convincingly.

But all of that ends today because with this executive order, the war on women's sports is over.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you, everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It should have been done long ago, actually. Thank you. Thank you very much.

With my action this afternoon, we're putting every school receiving taxpayer dollars on notice that if you let men take over women's sports teams or invade your locker rooms, you will be investigated for violations of Title IX and risk your federal funding. There will be no federal funding.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: So this will effectively end the attack on female athletes at public K-12 schools and virtually all U.S. colleges and universities. I don't think we've missed anything. But if we do, we'll make it up very quickly with an order.

And I don't think we will at all. I want to -- before we go on, I want to thank so many people that have worked so hard in the political establishment. And they're before me largely.

And I'm going to -- I think I'm going to miss a few. It always happens when you do this, but it's just one of those things. But we have many senators here, many governors here, many state attorneys general -- generals here. They're all over the place, actually. I see. Some of them went after me, but they failed.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And they're really friends, and they're friends of women's sports, that I can tell you. So, Senator Marsha Blackburn -- where's Marsha? Hi. (APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Senator Katie Britt. Thank you, Katie.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Mike Lee. Where's Mike? Mike? I love his new haircut. I love that haircut, Mike. He just said the hell with it, right? I think you look great.

Senator Cynthia Loomis. Cynthia, where are you? Cynthia? Hi, Cynthia. Doing a good job.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And Roger Marshall. Thank you, Roger. Great.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma. I love Oklahoma. I don't know what it is, Oklahoma, I went 77 out of 77 counties. It's never been done. Second was Ronald Reagan, 56, right? Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And Tommy Tuberville, a great coach.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: You know, his quarterback was named Mahomes. He was a great college coach. And I said, how good was he? He said, you don't want to know how good. He made me into a great coach. He's a pretty good quarterback, right? Yes, he was very good. He's a good guy, too.

Also governors, we have Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia. Thank you, Glenn. Good job.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Bill Lee of Tennessee. Bill, thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Jeff Landry, Louisiana. Thank you, Jeff.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Kim Reynolds of Iowa. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We're trying to move, you know, education back to the states. You do know that. We're making a big move. And we're counting on Linda McMahon. Thank you. Linda McMahon. Linda McMahon.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: And sitting next to you is the new star is born, Caroline. Congratulations. You've done great.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: New star. Star is born.

Patrick Morrissey. Patrick, congratulations. Great race.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: A great friend of mine, and he's really helped us at the border. Done a great job. Of Texas, Greg Abbott. Thank you, Greg.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:50:00]

TRUMP: Jim Pillan. Where are you? Jim? Very good. Very good.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Are you feeling good? He had a bad fall. You're doing all right, huh? Good. You look great.

Brad Little. Brad, thank you, Brad. Good job.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Good job. Do you like education going back to your state? You'll make it top, right?

You know, just so people understand, in the education world, we're ranked very, very poorly. We're 38, 39, and 40 out of 40 countries. We're at the bottom of the pack almost always, or very close to it. That just came out. We're 40 out of 40.

And if we move it back to the states, I will guarantee you that if you take Idaho, you take Iowa, you take almost any of the states that I'm looking at right now, they'll be as good as Norway. You have Norway. You have Sweden. You have Denmark. I must say, you have China that's very high in the pack, which is no longer we can say. It has to be a small area. China is very big, but they do a very good job.

But we'll have at least 35 of our states that will be as good or better than any of those countries. And we have to get it done.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Attorney General Steve Marshall. Steve, thank you very much. Steve, wherever you may be.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: General Tim Griffin, thank you, thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Oh, a person who is so wonderful, Brenna Bird. Where are you? Brenna? Brenna Bird. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: She supported me before people wanted to support me, right, Brenna? Wow. Thank you very much. I appreciated it.

Andrew Bailey. Great job. Where is Andrew? Great. Stand up, Andrew.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: One of the great attorney generals. Thank you very much. One of the greats, really.

And Jason Miyares. Thanks, Jason.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: And now we get back to our members of Congress, and we'll go quickly, but it's a great group of people.

Steve Scalise is right in front here. What a brave guy Steve is.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Steve went through a lot, and he proved one thing to me, only one thing, that his wife loved him. His wife loves him, because I went to the hospital that night, and he was not given even a shot, right, Mike? And I was with him, and I was with his wife, and she was devastated. She was really devastated.

And I've been to, you know, similar situations, not quite as bad, but the wives were not so devastated. And I can tell you, I can tell you that great wife of yours loves you, so anyway. And what you've done is incredible.

The way you've come back, you're better -- you look better now than you did before it happened. But nobody wants to go through that. It's amazing.

Tom Emmer doing a fantastic job. Thank you, Tom.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Great job.

SANCHEZ: We've been listening to President Donald Trump at the White House there signing an executive order banning trans athletes from women's sports. The president making a number of remarks on other issues, namely the Department of Education.

And right now he's going around the room shouting out fellow Republicans who are there with him. But this is a significant moment, Trump saying that he will not allow men to beat up, injure and cheat at women's sports. And he specifically cited a number of cases not closely based on fact.

He specifically mentioned this Olympic boxer that made headlines last year. She is Algerian Imane Khelif. She was born female. To this point, there has been no medical evidence that she has elevated testosterone or that she has X, Y chromosomes. But she became a target of Trump and other Republicans because she competed in the Olympics and beat other competitors decisively. And she became a target.

KEILAR: Yes, she won Olympic gold in 2024. She's a woman. But Trump taking aim at her, I think because it makes the point of his first blanket statement without her, I think, is an example.

And also there's a another Taiwanese athlete who has been questioned, by the way, by an organization that was Russia linked and had been banned for corruption in past competitions.

He said that men will not be allowed to beat up, injure and cheat women, something to that kind of effect. So I think that seemed to be what he came back to later, talking about the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.

[15:55:00]

But yes, a lot to fact check there as he makes this executive order announcement. We'll be back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: A top Justice Department official is accusing FBI leadership of insubordination after the FBI refused to identify a core team of bureau employees who worked on the January 6th investigations.

KEILAR: CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is joining us live on this. All right, tell us more about what happened here and what it means for the FBI.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is kind of a strident memo from Emil Bove. He's the deputy acting deputy attorney general. And what he's reacting to is the reaction from inside the FBI that they thought thousands of them were at risk of losing their job.

And what he's saying in this new memo today is simply that, you know, he said he tried to do it a different way and was rejected by the FBI leadership. And he says no FBI employee who simply followed orders is going to be fired. But he says only those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent. And he also says anybody who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.

Now, the question is, how are they going to define that? Right. And so that's why they're still concerned, even though this memo was meant to try to clear the air and say, hey, guys, not everybody's being fired. But, you know, it does raise new questions about exactly how you define weaponization, given the fact that it's been loosely used term by the president and by people at the Justice Department.

SANCHEZ: How is the DOJ going to determine that? PEREZ: Right.

SANCHEZ: Whether folks acted with partisan intent?

PEREZ: Well, they say they're going to set up this process that's going to review basically all the action by people who are working -- were working on these cases, these Trump related cases.

[16:00:00]

KEILAR: I mean, that's it's like an interesting answer.

PEREZ: Yes.

KEILAR: But it doesn't really tell you how they could not abuse that discretion.

PEREZ: Right. That's the big concern.

SANCHEZ: Evan Perez, thanks so much for the reporting.

And thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. We have about 15 more seconds to kill before we toss it over to "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper. A lot is going on. I'm sure he's going to have the latest headlines for you.

KEILAR: That's right. And more on Trump's executive order, which he is still in the process of doing a big ceremony for.

END