On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” host Wolf Blitzer claimed it was “outlandish” for 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump to claim 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris supports taxpayer funding for gender transition surgeries for illegal immigrants and those in prison, a stance that CNN itself reported that Harris took when she was running for president the last time and that her campaign refused to tell CNN if she still supports.
While speaking to Harris-Walz Co-Chair Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Blitzer said, “I want to play for you, Sen., some of Trump’s more outlandish claims, and there were many of them, last night.”
He then played a montage of some things Trump said during the debate, including, “She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.”
On Monday, CNN’s KFile reported that, during her previous presidential run, Harris responded to an ACLU questionnaire that asked if she would use “executive authority to ensure that transgender and nonbinary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care?” By answering, “Yes.” And adding, “It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition. That’s why, as Attorney General, I pushed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates. I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained. Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.”
KFile also reported that they reached out to the Harris campaign to ask if she still holds this position, and the campaign “did not answer questions from CNN on whether she continued to support these positions and instead provided a statement attributable only to an unnamed ‘Harris campaign advisor’ saying, ‘The Vice President’s positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris Administration.’ They declined to elaborate on what her positions were. They also provided a comment attributed to a Harris campaign spokesperson saying, ‘As President, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress.'”
Earlier that day, on CNN, Harris-Walz Campaign Co-Chair Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) was also asked about Harris’ position and stated, “It’s not a central issue or an issue that she’s really focused on in this election.” And “that is a non-issue.”
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