Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump set off another round of social media speculation Friday after cameras caught what looked like copious amounts of makeup on his hand during public appearances in Washington.
A patch of foundation, slightly lighter than his skin tone, was visible while he toured an exhibit at The People’s House museum. Later that day, during the World Cup 2026 draw event at The Kennedy Center, Trump kept one hand over the other while addressing the crowd — a move that didn’t go unnoticed by outlets like The Daily Beast, which pointed out the recurring appearance of cosmetic cover.
This isn’t the first time similar images have made the rounds. Observers cited previous instances following Trump’s meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron in February, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Asked about the chatter, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt brushed aside the tabloid-style coverage.
“President Trump is a man of the people, and he meets more Americans and shakes more hands on a daily basis than any other president in history,” Leavitt told The Independent Saturday. “His commitment is unwavering, and he proves that every single day.”
The renewed scrutiny follows last month’s stir over photos showing discoloration and swelling in Trump’s legs during a FIFA Club World Cup appearance. The White House later confirmed the president has chronic venous insufficiency — a common circulatory condition in which blood pools in the veins due to weakened valves.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the condition can lead to discomfort but is manageable. Leavitt said Trump isn’t in pain and hasn’t required treatment or changes to his daily routine.
In April, White House physician Capt. Sean Barbabella declared the president in “excellent cognitive and physical health” after his annual checkup. He attributed bruising on Trump’s hands to aspirin therapy, a standard precaution for heart health.
FULL TRANSPARENCY: Karoline Leavitt addresses speculation about President Trump’s bruised hand and swollen ankles pic.twitter.com/sKTgb9PYqT
President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
President Donald Trump will have his annual medical checkup at a hospital near Washington on May 26, the White House said Monday night.
The oldest person ever inaugurated as President, Trump, turns 80 in June. Trump traveled to China for a summit with that country’s leader, Xi Jinping this week.
Read the full statement from the White House:
President Donald J. Trump will visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on May 26 for his annual dental and medical evaluations, and to visit with the men and women of the military. This will include the President’s routine annual dental and medical assessments as part of his regular preventive health care. The President will also spend time with service members and staff at Walter Reed in recognition of their service, professionalism, and dedication to the nation. Additional details regarding the President’s schedule will be released at a later date.
In March, the White House doctor said the president was taking a prescription “preventative skin treatment” to treat irritation on his neck.
Last July, the White House said Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition tied to swelling in the legs, but that doctors had otherwise found the president to be in “excellent health.”
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles delivers remarks during the Memorial Service for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, Sunday, September 21, 2025.(Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles announced Wednesday that she is cancer-free, six months after disclosing her early-stage breast cancer diagnosis.
“After a medical appointment at the Mayo Clinic this week, my pathology results came back clear,” Wiles wrote in a post on X. “I am cancer free.”
Some personal news I’m grateful to share. After a medical appointment at the Mayo Clinic this week, my pathology results came back clear.
I am cancer free.
Thank you to my family, friends, doctors, and everyone who prayed for me, checked in, and supported me along the way.
Wiles thanked her family, friends, doctors and those who prayed for and supported her during treatment.
She also offered “a special thank you” to President Donald Trump for his “unwavering support,” adding that she would continue working to advance his America First agenda.
Wiles revealed her diagnosis in March and continued carrying out her duties during treatment. She returned to work shortly after undergoing a cancer-related medical procedure at the Mayo Clinic earlier this week, CBS News reported.
LaMalfa represented part of California and was chair of the Congressional Western Caucus.
“Jacquie and I are devastated about the sudden loss of our friend, Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Doug was a loving father and husband, and staunch advocate for his constituents and rural America. Our prayers are with Doug’s wife, Jill, and their children,” Emmer said.
House Republicans mourn the loss of Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
A lifelong resident of Northern California and a fourth-generation rice farmer, Congressman LaMalfa spent more than two decades in public service. He proudly represented California’s 1st Congressional District from… pic.twitter.com/nTFSiEXUlE
By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., CC BY-SA 2.0,
For decades, Americans were told a story about their health that no longer matched reality. We were assured that food was safe, that regulators were vigilant, that medical advice was insulated from politics and profit, and that rising chronic disease was an unfortunate but unavoidable byproduct of modern life. Meanwhile, the health of the nation deteriorated in plain sight. Obesity climbed year after year. Childhood chronic disease became common rather than exceptional. Autism rates surged. Cancer diagnoses among children rose. By the time President Trump returned to office, 76.4% of Americans were living with at least one chronic disease. Eight out of 10 children could not qualify for military service. What should have been treated as a civilizational emergency was instead normalized, until that long-running failure of honesty and accountability culminated during the COVID-19 pandemic, when public health leaders abandoned transparency, misled the public, and, under Dr. Fauci’s direction, shattered trust in medical professionals and the institutions meant to serve them.
The collapse of trust that followed COVID did not occur in a vacuum. It was the culmination of years of regulatory capture, scientific arrogance, and a public health establishment that confused authority with truth. Americans were ordered, not persuaded. Dissent was pathologized. Data was selectively presented. Vaccine policy was enforced through mandate rather than transparency. Dr. Fauci became the symbol of an anti-science regime that claimed infallibility while revising its claims in real time. When institutions insist on obedience while refusing accountability, trust does not merely erode; it implodes.
MEASLES: Despite years of unprecedented legal and illegal migration, the US has measles under control compared to peer nations. Canada now has nearly 20X the US case rate, while the UK has roughly triple. Vaccine hesitancy driven by exposed Covid falsehoods is hitting countries… pic.twitter.com/dRfMJrf3J9
It is against this backdrop that the Make America Healthy Again initiative must be understood. MAHA is not a branding exercise or a partisan slogan. It is a course correction. President Trump’s decision to place Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the helm of HHS was not an appeal to nostalgia or name recognition. It was an explicit rejection of the managerial consensus that presided over the chronic disease explosion. The mandate was simple and radical: identify root causes, dismantle regulatory capture, and tell the truth even when it disrupts powerful interests.
Skeptics ask whether one year can matter. The answer depends on what one expects a first year to do. MAHA was never going to reverse decades of metabolic, environmental, and institutional decay overnight. Its purpose was to reorient the system, establish credibility, and force long-delayed questions back into the open. By that standard, the first year has been historic.
Start with the scope of institutional change. President Trump signed an executive order establishing the MAHA Commission, chaired by Secretary Kennedy, with a singular focus on chronic disease. For the first time in generations, chronic illness was treated not as an actuarial inevitability but as a policy failure demanding investigation. This alone marked a break with orthodoxy. Under previous administrations, chronic disease spending rose to $1.3T annually while prevention remained an afterthought. When Kennedy notes that the federal government once spent essentially nothing on chronic disease, he is not making a rhetorical point. He is diagnosing a structural blind spot.
The results are already visible. Thirty-seven states have enacted legislation advancing MAHA-aligned reforms. Nearly 100 MAHA-related bills have passed nationwide. Eighteen states secured SNAP waivers to restrict taxpayer-funded junk food purchases that directly fuel obesity and diabetes. These are not symbolic victories. They are structural incentives aligned with public health rather than industry convenience.
Food policy has been the most visible arena of reform, and for good reason. The American diet did not become toxic by accident. It was engineered through regulatory loopholes that allowed synthetic additives to enter the food supply under the GRAS standard with minimal oversight. MAHA moved quickly to overhaul this system. Agreements now cover roughly 40% of the food industry, committing to remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes. The dairy industry has pledged to eliminate artificial dyes from ice cream by 2028. These changes matter because they reset norms. Once voluntary reform becomes expected, resistance collapses.
The same logic applies to infant health. Operation Stork Speed was launched to expand access to safe and nutritious infant formula while removing heavy metals that had no business entering baby food in the first place. For parents who watched institutions minimize legitimate safety concerns during COVID, this shift toward precaution and transparency has been decisive in rebuilding trust.
Critics often ask whether MAHA is anti-science. The premise is backward. MAHA is anti-dogma. It insists that science earns authority through openness, replication, and humility. This is why vaccine policy has been reframed around informed consent and gold standard trials rather than mandates. Honesty about uncertainty is not weakness. It is the precondition of credibility. Public trust returns when institutions stop pretending to be omniscient.
This emphasis on trust extends beyond food and vaccines. HHS issued guidance restoring biological truth, recognizing that there are two sexes, male and female. This was not culture war theater. Medicine depends on biological reality. When institutions deny observable facts for ideological reasons, patients notice. Restoring clarity restores confidence.
MAHA’s critics also underestimate the importance of state-level experimentation. Utah’s decision to ban added fluoride in public drinking water did not impose a national mandate. It reopened a conversation that had been closed by bureaucratic inertia. Communities are once again allowed to weigh risks and benefits rather than defer to outdated consensus.
Health care delivery itself has not been ignored. Prior authorization has long functioned as a hidden tax on patients and physicians, delaying care while enriching intermediaries. Secretary Kennedy and CMS Administrator Oz secured industry commitments to streamline this process across health plans. Less paperwork means faster treatment and lower burnout. These are the reforms patients feel immediately.
Drug pricing has followed the same philosophy. President Trump’s most favored nation order is being rapidly implemented to align U.S. prescription drug prices with those paid abroad. This is not price control masquerading as populism. It is a refusal to subsidize global markets at the expense of American patients. Lower prices are a public health intervention.
Physical health has returned to the cultural mainstream as well. The Pete and Bobby Challenge, launched by Secretary Kennedy alongside Defense Secretary Hegseth, did something that countless white papers failed to do. It made fitness visible again. A nation where most children cannot meet basic physical standards is not merely unhealthy. It is vulnerable.
The MAHA Commission’s release of the Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy, outlining more than 120 initiatives, signaled that childhood chronic disease is no longer being treated as a mystery or a taboo. New data linking rising thyroid and kidney cancers among children demands answers. Autism rates demand answers. MAHA has made clear that asking these questions is not forbidden. It is required.
Perhaps the most underestimated achievement of the first year is cultural rather than regulatory. Trust is returning because institutions are speaking plainly. The public understands that special interests once thrived behind closed doors. They know they were sold better cigarettes and sugar smacks with a health halo. What they demanded in 2024 was not perfection. It was honesty.
President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have delivered the first credible attempt in decades to dismantle the alliance between bureaucratic power and corporate profit that hollowed out public health. The appointments at NIH, FDA, and CMS reflect this shift. These are not partisan enforcers. They are reformers tasked with ending capture and restoring the mission.
No serious observer should claim that the work is finished. Chronic disease did not emerge in one year, and it will not be eliminated in one term. But trajectories matter. Incentives matter. Trust matters most of all. After years in which Americans were told to comply and not question, MAHA has reopened the social contract between the public and medicine.
Public health cannot function without consent. Consent requires trust. Trust requires truth. That is the chain MAHA is rebuilding. It is why the first year matters. Not because every problem has been solved, but because the system has finally been pointed in the right direction.
Sponsored by the John Milton Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping independent journalists overcome formidable challenges in today’s media landscape and bring crucial stories to you.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) following weeks of debate over his nomination.
Once again, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stood alone as the only Republican to vote against President Trump’s nominee. McConnell opposed Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination as director of national intelligence (DNI).
🚨🚨 BREAKING: The Senate has CONFIRMED Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The confirmation process was marked by intense scrutiny of Kennedy’s record and policy positions. The Senate Finance Committee advanced his nomination last Tuesday with a narrow 14-13 vote.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician and key swing vote, played a decisive role in moving Kennedy’s nomination forward. Cassidy, who has represented Louisiana in the Senate since 2014, broke with some in his party to support the nominee.
The full Senate advanced Kennedy’s nomination on Wednesday following a successful cloture vote of 53 to 47.
During his confirmation process, Kennedy worked to distance himself from past remarks that raised doubts about vaccine safety.
Despite the controversy, he managed to secure enough backing from Republicans to push his nomination forward.
As head of HHS, Kennedy will oversee federal health policy, including responses to public health crises, health care regulations and medical research funding. His tenure is expected to bring significant policy debates, particularly regarding vaccine policy, regulatory oversight and public health initiatives.
With Kennedy now confirmed, all eyes will be on how he navigates key health policy challenges in the months ahead.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump has selected Dr. Heidi Overton, a senior White House domestic policy adviser and physician, to lead the Food and Drug Administration as the agency confronts battles over vaccines, drug prices, food additives, and abortion medication.
Trump announced the nomination Wednesday, describing Overton as a trusted problem-solver who would accelerate medical innovation, lower prescription costs, and advance Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
Overton currently serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, where she has helped formulate and promote several of the administration’s most consequential health initiatives.
BREAKING: President Trump picks Dr. Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, to lead the Food and Drug Administration. https://t.co/fGVJ7TNQjt
If confirmed by the Senate, she would succeed Dr. Marty Makary, who left the agency in May after a turbulent tenure marked by internal disputes and disagreements over the direction of federal health policy.
Kyle Diamantas, who previously led the FDA’s Human Foods Program, is serving as acting commissioner.
A Physician With Deep White House Ties
Overton is a board-certified physician in public health and general preventive medicine. She earned her medical degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a doctorate in clinical investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
She previously trained as a general surgery resident at Johns Hopkins and advocated for greater price and quality transparency in health care.
During medical school, then-New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez appointed Overton to the University of New Mexico Board of Regents, where she held voting and fiduciary responsibility for the university and its health system.
Overton first entered the Trump White House as a fellow in 2019, working in the Office of American Innovation and on the Domestic Policy Council. Between Trump’s terms, she served as chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute and helped lead its Center for a Healthy America.
Her biography from the conservative organization emphasizes her work on health-care transparency, fentanyl, public health and policies designed to give patients greater control over medical decisions.
The appointment would place a committed administration loyalist at the head of an agency that regulates products representing roughly one-fifth of American consumer spending.
Overton Helped Shape Trump’s Health Agenda
Overton has appeared alongside Trump during major health policy announcements, including the administration’s efforts to negotiate “most favored nation” agreements with drug companies. The policy seeks to tie American prescription prices to the lower prices paid in other developed countries.
She was also involved in Trump’s controversial effort to revise the childhood vaccination schedule and separate the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into three individual shots.
Major medical organizations have generally supported the combined MMR vaccine, which has been used for decades and reduces the number of clinical visits and injections required for full immunization. Critics fear that splitting the vaccine could create delays and lower vaccination rates.
Overton’s role in the policy is likely to become a focus of her Senate confirmation hearing, particularly as lawmakers question how she would handle pressure from Kennedy and other administration figures skeptical of established federal vaccine recommendations.
Trump praised Overton as a “rockstar” who would advance medical cures, innovation and lower drug prices.
Kennedy also supports the nomination, giving Overton an important ally inside the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA.
Difficult Issues Await New Commissioner
The next FDA commissioner will inherit an unusually difficult collection of unfinished projects.
The agency continues to face pressure over its regulation of COVID-19 vaccines and other immunizations, including questions about which populations should receive updated shots and what evidence manufacturers must provide.
Medication abortion will present another immediate test. Pro-life organizations want the FDA to impose tighter restrictions on mifepristone, including limits on prescriptions issued through telehealth and pills delivered through the mail.
Overton has previously used the term “teleabortion” when discussing remote access to abortion medication, drawing concern from abortion-rights organizations that expect her to revisit the drug’s rules.
The FDA must also determine how aggressively it will regulate ultraprocessed foods, chemical additives, and synthetic dyes. Those issues are central to Kennedy’s MAHA movement but can conflict with the deregulatory approach traditionally favored by Republican lawmakers and industry groups.
Other pending questions involve flavored electronic cigarettes, peptide treatments, psychedelics, antidepressant warnings, and efforts to shorten the approval process for new drugs.
Overton would therefore have to balance three competing forces: Trump’s desire for faster approvals and lower prices, Kennedy’s campaign against corporate influence in food and medicine, and Republican demands for reduced federal regulation.
Management Experience Likely to Draw Scrutiny
Overton’s supporters point to her medical education, policy background, and proximity to presidential decision-making. They argue that she understands Trump’s priorities and can coordinate more effectively with the White House than an outside nominee.
Critics are expected to focus on her limited experience running an organization comparable to the FDA.
The agency employs thousands of scientists, physicians, inspectors, lawyers, and regulatory specialists. It oversees prescription drugs, medical devices, vaccines, tobacco products, much of the nation’s food supply, and other consumer goods.
Axios reported before her selection that some health policy observers worried Overton’s nomination could unsettle FDA career employees and pharmaceutical investors, while other potential candidates possessed more direct executive management experience.
The criticism will likely feature prominently when she appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Makary, Overton’s predecessor and a former Johns Hopkins colleague, was confirmed in March 2025 by a 56-44 Senate vote. Overton will seek confirmation from a chamber still controlled by Republicans but divided over the administration’s vaccine policies.
Her nomination signals that Trump wants the FDA led by someone already embedded in his White House rather than an agency insider or pharmaceutical executive.
If the Senate agrees, Overton will take control of one of the federal government’s most powerful scientific agencies — and become responsible for turning the administration’s sprawling health agenda into enforceable policy.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear escalated pressure on Sen. Mitch McConnell this week, demanding that the longtime Republican lawmaker publicly demonstrate that he remains capable of serving—or resign from office.
In a letter dated Monday and reported Tuesday, the Democratic governor called on McConnell to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky” and prove his capacity to continue representing the state.
Beshear’s ultimatum came one day after McConnell’s office released a new photograph of the 84-year-old senator alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, and confirmed that he remains in a rehabilitation facility more than six weeks after being hospitalized.
BREAKING:
A statement from the Office of the Attending Physician says Mitch McConnell "is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office."
“It has now been 43 days since news of your hospitalization,” Beshear wrote, according to Mediaite.
McConnell has missed 38 consecutive Senate votes since his hospitalization, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” Beshear wrote.
The governor also sent the letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and urged him to investigate McConnell’s ability to remain in office if the senator declines to speak publicly.
Beshear said he would press Thune to report his findings to the American people and begin the process of removing McConnell if an investigation determined that such action was warranted.
“All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency,” the governor added.
Beshear acknowledged McConnell’s right to medical privacy but argued that elected officials surrender a degree of that privacy when they accept responsibility for representing the public.
The Senate can expel one of its members only with a two-thirds vote. Such action is exceedingly rare: Only 15 senators have been expelled since 1789, with 14 of those removals occurring during the Civil War, according to the Senate Historical Office.
Beshear’s letter represents his second formal request for more information about McConnell’s condition. On July 8, the governor asked the senator to provide Kentuckians with a full health update and clarify whether he remained capable of fulfilling his duties.
McConnell was hospitalized June 14 after suffering a fall at his Washington, D.C., residence that left him briefly unconscious. In a July 12 written statement, the senator said doctors had ruled out a heart attack, stroke, concussion, broken bones, tumors and hemorrhaging. He also disclosed that he had developed a mild case of pneumonia while receiving treatment.
McConnell was eventually transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility, where he has been undergoing multiple physical-therapy sessions each day.
His office released its latest update Monday, accompanied by a photograph that it said was taken July 26 and showed McConnell sitting beside Chao.
The Office of the Attending Physician said McConnell has not been medically cleared to leave the facility and return to his Senate office. Doctors said the lingering effects of the senator’s childhood battle with polio remain a significant factor affecting his mobility.
McConnell said he was still “working hard” to resume his schedule but announced that he would miss Kentucky’s Fancy Farm picnic Saturday. The annual political gathering is a major tradition in the state and one McConnell first attended 42 years ago.
“As always, I appreciate all of your continued well wishes, and I’m looking forward to getting back to the Senate and to Kentucky soon,” McConnell said in the official update.
A spokesman previously said McConnell continued meeting with staff and discussing defense appropriations, foreign policy, the farm bill, constituent services and federal grant requests during his recovery. Republican leaders, including Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, have also said they spoke with McConnell by telephone.
The senator has not, however, participated in a live video interview or addressed Kentuckians directly since his hospitalization, leaving Beshear and other critics dissatisfied with the written statements and photographs released by his office.
McConnell has experienced several highly publicized health scares in recent years, including falls, two on-camera freezing episodes in 2023 and an intensive-care hospitalization earlier this year for flu-like symptoms.
The seven-term senator has already announced that he will not seek reelection and plans to leave office when his current term expires in January 2027. If the seat becomes vacant before then, Kentucky law calls for a special election to fill the remainder of the term.
Fox News anchor John Roberts has revealed he’s been hospitalized after contracting what he described as a “severe case of malaria,” sidelining him from his weekday slot on America Reports.
“I somehow came down with a severe case of malaria,” Roberts, 68, announced via X on Tuesday. “I can honestly say that I am the only person in the hospital with malaria. In fact, one of my doctors said I’m the first case he has ever seen.”
Thank you to Trace for jumping into the chair today! I somehow came down with a severe case of Malaria. I can honestly say that I am the only person in the hospital with Malaria. In fact, one of my doctors said I’m the first case he has ever seen. Thanks to the folks at… https://t.co/6ZHiB5Dv8v
Malaria was eliminated from the U.S. in 1951, according to the CDC. However, the country still sees about 2,000 malaria cases per year. There were, on average, nearly seven deaths per year between 2007 and 2022.
Malaria cases in the U.S. are now mostly linked to international travel.
Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. Cases in the U.S. were typically in people who traveled to or from countries where the disease is widespread. The CDC said locally acquired, mosquito-transmitted malaria is “rare” in the country.
Malaria patients often reported having recently returned from Africa, the CDC said. Patients commonly reported visiting friends and family as their primary reason for travel.
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) sued the federal government Tuesday, arguing that a new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy unlawfully ties major federal funding streams to compliance with the Trump administration’s new restrictions on gender-related medical care for minors.
The lawsuit challenges an HHS policy that, according to the attorneys general, conditions billions of dollars in health, education and research funding on compliance with a presidential executive order addressing sex and gender-related treatments.
“The federal government is trying to force states to choose between their values and the vital funding their residents depend on,” James said in a statement. “This policy threatens healthcare for families, life-saving research, and education programs that help young people thrive in favor of denying the dignity and existence of transgender people.”
The dispute stems from President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing HHS to take steps to curb what the administration calls “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children. President Trump has made limits on transgender-related medical care for minors a central part of his second-term domestic agenda.
NYC Public Advocate Tish James via Wikimedia Commons
Last month, HHS announced a sweeping package of proposed regulatory actions aimed at ending what it described as “sex-rejecting procedures” for minors. In guidance accompanying the announcement, the department warned that doctors and health systems could be excluded from federal health programs — including Medicare and Medicaid — if they provide treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender surgeries to minors.
James’ lawsuit argues that the federal government is using funding leverage to pressure states, hospitals, universities, and other institutions to change policies on transgender care.
The attorneys general also claim HHS lacks legal authority to impose the conditions and is attempting to rewrite federal law through executive action. They argue the policy is vague and fails to spell out what recipients must do to remain compliant, creating uncertainty for states and institutions that rely on federal dollars.
Failure to comply with the policy could lead to termination of grants, repayment of funds already spent, or potential civil or criminal penalties, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit asks a federal court to declare the policy unlawful and block HHS from enforcing it, allowing states and institutions to continue receiving federal funding without changing existing policies.
The legal fight also adds to the long-running political and courtroom clash between Trump and James. James has positioned herself as one of the country’s most aggressive state-level opponents of Trump, repeatedly using New York’s legal powers to pursue high-profile cases involving his businesses and allies. Trump has frequently accused James of pursuing politically motivated investigations.
Trump officials have defended the executive order as a child-protection measure and a pushback against what they say is ideological medicine being imposed through federal agencies and school systems.
The case is expected to intensify a national debate already playing out in Congress and state legislatures, where Republican-led states have moved to restrict or ban gender-related treatments for minors, while Democrat-led states have expanded protections and access.
