# CNN backtracks fact-check on Trump 'falsely claimed' there were trans experiments on mice

The White House released information on gender transition treatments being given to animals like mice.

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Published March 6, 2025 5:00pm EST | Updated March 6, 2025 5:06pm EST

     



President Donald Trump read through examples of government spending that was cut by the Department of Government Efficiency during his address to Congress.



U.S. President Donald Trump asserted on Tuesday that federal grant money was used for transgender experiments on mice.

(Win McNamee/Pool via REUTERS)

"CNN backtracked on one of its fact-checks of 's address to a joint session of Congress after claiming he "falsely" asserted federal money was used on ."

CNN journalist Deirde McPhillips asserted that Trump "falsely claimed" Tuesday night that the Department of Government Efficiency identified $8 million that was spent on "making mice transgender."

Instead, she argued that grants were given to projects that applied hormone therapy to monkeys to understand its effects on HIV treatment.





CNN's fact-check was later revised after the White House provided additional information.

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"Between the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, the National Institutes of Health awarded a total of $477,121 to three projects that involved administering feminizing hormone therapy to monkeys to understand how it may affect their immune system and make them more susceptible to HIV. Feminizing hormone therapy is a gender-affirming treatment used to block the effects of the male hormone testosterone and promote feminine characteristics among transgender women," McPhillips wrote in a draft .

The fact-check continued, "Transgender women are nearly 50 times more likely to be infected with HIV than other adults, according to one study from 2013 across 15 countries, including the US. It’s not clear where the $8 million figure came from."

However,  of the fact-check changed the assertion on Wednesday from "falsely claimed" to "needs context," adding the White House had since put out a list of federal grants involving mice receiving gender-transition treatments.





DOGE announced on Wednesday that several grants to transgender experiments on animals have been canceled.

(Getty Images)



DOGE announced on Wednesday that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has since , some of which included $532,000 to "use a mouse model to investigate the effects of cross-sex testosterone treatment" and another $33,000 to test "feminizing hormone therapy in the male rat."

_Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report._

_Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick._
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