Jeffries on Newsom's trans athlete stand: 'DNC against unleashing sex predators' | Fox News
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### Jeffries again claims banning trans athletes from girls sports will unleash sexual predators on girls

Jeffries sparked backlash with his argument in January

[](https://www.foxnews.com/person/t/jackson-thompson)

By   Published March 6, 2025 5:57pm EST

     



Nationally syndicated radio host Dana Loesch reacts to reports a California college is replacing women’s locker rooms with all-sex locker rooms on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader , D-N.Y., repeated the unsubstantiated argument that the Defending Women and Girls in Sports Act would have "unleashed" sexual predators on girls in the U.S.

Jeffries  the day the House voted on the bill Jan. 14, joining other prominent Democratic representatives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The argument prompted harsh backlash among some registered Democratic voters and was not repeated leading up to the Senate's vote of the bill Monday.

But Jeffries raised the argument again when asked about California Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent comments about transgender athletes in girls sports being "unfair."

"I haven't seen  comments. What Democrats opposed was unleashing sexual predators on girls throughout the United States of America," Jeffries told reporters Thursday.





When Jeffries and other House Democrats pushed the argument in January, it was not rooted in any language within the bill.  no genital inspection would ever be necessary and that proof of birth gender could simply be determined with a birth certificate.

The bill ended up passing in the House by a vote of 218-206. Two Democratic representatives, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, voted in favor of it despite Jeffries and others labeling the bill "The House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act."

When the bill reached the Senate earlier this week, not a single Democrat voted in favor of it, and with 45 votes against it, were able to filibuster the bill despite 51 Republicans voting for it.

Multiple Democratic senators spoke about why they did not vote for the bill, , offering a variety of reasons. However, almost none of them reiterated the argument that the bill would empower sexual predators to give genital examinations to young girls.

Those who expressed similar concerns were Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"This blanket legislation would allow anyone to subject girls to invasive physical exams just because of the way they look. That is incredible government overreach and is putting young women at increased risk for abuse and harassment – something I’ve spent my career fighting against," Cortez Masto said in a statement.

, we’re going to vote to give someone unspecified the right to physically inspect a girl or a young woman if the other opposing team accuses them of being transgender. My goodness."](https://www.foxnews.com/sports/how-transgenderism-sports-shifted-2024-election-ignited-national-counterculture)

Shortly after the vote in the House in January, some Democratic voters left the party in response to the child predator argument by Jeffries.

Prominent Rutgers law professor Gary Francione and some of his Democratic peers in the field of education and law were among those who left the party.



### "That just made me very upset because it screamed out lack of integrity, lack of honesty," Francione . "This is the way you fight battles? By trying to insult other people who oppose you and disagree with you and insinuate that they're child molesters or pedophiles? It seems to me you've lost the game. … I don't know how they're ever going to come back from this."

"I can say confidently of the people I know who are Democrats who I've spoken to, the vast majority of them are very unhappy about all of this stuff and feel that the party has lost its way. I know a couple who said they are going to ."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from women's and girls sports and vowed to withdraw federal funding from any state that doesn't comply. California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine are already under investigation for not complying with it.

Trump reaffirmed his intent to punish states that continue to allow trans athletes to compete with girls during Tuesday night's address to a joint session of Congress.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Trump "won't back down" as he goes after these states.

"This is a commonsense policy. Eighty percent of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women's sports."

___ **_, and subscribe to** .





Nationally syndicated radio host Dana Loesch reacts to reports a California college is replacing women’s locker rooms with all-sex locker rooms on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’

When Jeffries and other House Democrats pushed the argument in January, it was not rooted in any language within the bill.  no genital inspection would ever be necessary and that proof of birth gender could simply be determined with a birth certificate.

The bill ended up passing in the House by a vote of 218-206. Two Democratic representatives, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, voted in favor of it despite Jeffries and others labeling the bill "The House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act."

When the bill reached the Senate earlier this week, not a single Democrat voted in favor of it, and with 45 votes against it, were able to filibuster the bill despite 51 Republicans voting for it.

Multiple Democratic senators spoke about why they did not vote for the bill, , offering a variety of reasons. However, almost none of them reiterated the argument that the bill would empower sexual predators to give genital examinations to young girls.

Those who expressed similar concerns were Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"This blanket legislation would allow anyone to subject girls to invasive physical exams just because of the way they look. That is incredible government overreach and is putting young women at increased risk for abuse and harassment – something I’ve spent my career fighting against," Cortez Masto said in a statement.

, we’re going to vote to give someone unspecified the right to physically inspect a girl or a young woman if the other opposing team accuses them of being transgender. My goodness."](https://www.foxnews.com/sports/how-transgenderism-sports-shifted-2024-election-ignited-national-counterculture)

Shortly after the vote in the House in January, some Democratic voters left the party in response to the child predator argument by Jeffries.

Prominent Rutgers law professor Gary Francione and some of his Democratic peers in the field of education and law were among those who left the party.



### "That just made me very upset because it screamed out lack of integrity, lack of honesty," Francione . "This is the way you fight battles? By trying to insult other people who oppose you and disagree with you and insinuate that they're child molesters or pedophiles? It seems to me you've lost the game. … I don't know how they're ever going to come back from this."

"I can say confidently of the people I know who are Democrats who I've spoken to, the vast majority of them are very unhappy about all of this stuff and feel that the party has lost its way. I know a couple who said they are going to ."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from women's and girls sports and vowed to withdraw federal funding from any state that doesn't comply. California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine are already under investigation for not complying with it.

Trump reaffirmed his intent to punish states that continue to allow trans athletes to compete with girls during Tuesday night's address to a joint session of Congress.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted Trump "won't back down" as he goes after these states.

"This is a commonsense policy. Eighty percent of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women's sports."

___ **_, and subscribe to** .

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#### Inside the fight against the war on women's sports | Will Cain Show

[](https://www.foxnews.com/video/6369690305112)

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