The Guardian reports:
“Doge and OMB also found that there was about to be $50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,” Leavitt claimed. “That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that’s what this pause is focused on: being good stewards of tax dollars.” While Leavitt did not offer any evidence to support this claim, and was not pressed to by reporters, the idea that the US government planned to spend $50 million to send condoms to Gaza quickly went viral, with an assist from Musk himself.
The Fox pundit Jesse Watters even claimed that the condoms were being used by Hamas militants as balloons to float explosives into Israel. According to a comprehensive report issued in September by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), not a penny of the $60.8m in contraceptive and condom shipments funded by the US in the past year went to Gaza. In fact, the accounting shows, there were no condoms sent to any part of the Middle East.
Read the full article. Leavitt opened her first press briefing yesterday by promising to always tell the truth. But it doesn’t matter. Musk backed up the lie and now it’s gospel for tens of millions.
This is how propaganda works: the government makes a wildly false claim; the regime loyal media repeats it without bothering to find out it is untrue. But it is untrue: https://t.co/xRTAd5zSjy https://t.co/gtEsShMu2h
— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) January 29, 2025
I looked into it, and despite what @PressSec says @elonmusk told her, the US has spent exactly $0 on condoms for Gaza, not $50 million https://t.co/xRTAd5zSjy https://t.co/3ZXOLV8NQr
— Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) January 29, 2025
Elon Musk, WH Press Secretary, & Fox claimed that Trump had to freeze grants and govt funding because Biden supposedly sent $50 million in condoms to Gaza. Another lie in a firehose of daily lies. https://t.co/sHbBHrVGXS pic.twitter.com/3e8w5uwLmW
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 29, 2025
Explains why all condom orders were “Magnum” 😂 https://t.co/eKKRsfkgjY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025
Tip of iceberg https://t.co/ixjtgut26G
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025
My guess is that a lot of that money ended up in the pockets Hamas, not actually condoms
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2025