“Medicare and Medicaid have not been affected by any action we’re taking in any way, shape or form. We are merely looking at parts of the big bureaucracy where there has been tremendous waste and fraud and abuse. And that process we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas — 50 million. And you know what’s happened to them? They’ve used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?” – Trump, this afternoon.
CNN reports:
The White House offered no evidence for the story: Leavitt provided no proof for her claim that there was ever a federal plan to spend $50 million on condoms in Gaza. Under Biden, USAID spent no money on condoms in the entire Middle East. The State Department would not repeat Leavitt’s claim.
The White House official pointed to a series of social media posts from State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who listed specific examples of how Trump’s aid pause had prevented what Bruce called unjustified spending that wouldn’t make the country “safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” But Bruce did not mention $50 million for condoms in Gaza.
Experts on US aid to Gaza and global health aid were baffled by the claim that the US had been planning to spend $50 million on condoms in Gaza. “We have asked around, and no one is sure what this is referring to,” said Steve Fake, a spokesperson for Anera, an aid nonprofit that has partnered with USAID on a five-year, $50 million health initiative in Gaza.
Fake said this Anera program has “definitely no purchase of condoms” and added: “Our whole program is $50 (million) and represents a significant portion of total US aid going to Gaza.”
Read the full article.
Trump: “We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.” (This is a lie.)
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 29, 2025 at 2:23 PM