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Tag: McMahon

Linda McMahon speaks out on protecting women and girls from trans athletes during confirmation hearing

Linda McMahon made her stance clear on trans inclusion in women’s and girls’ sports during her confirmation hearing for education secretary on Thursday.

“I do not believe that biological boys should be able to compete against girls in sports, and I think now that certainly not only have the people spoken, because that was something that Trump ran very heavily on, but I believe the court has spoken,” McMahon said.

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Linda McMahon speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 18, 2024. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of “Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls and women’s bathrooms,” as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was “very important.”

Trump vowed during his 2024 campaign to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports. Trump made good on that promise early when he signed the No Men in Women’s Sports executive order on Feb. 5.

Prior to that, the Supreme Court ruled in August to deny a Biden administration emergency request to enforce portions of the former president’s Title IX rewrites that would allow biological males in women’s and girls’ changing rooms.

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And as McMahon looks to get confirmed as education secretary, she insists on carrying out the original mission of Title IX, and keeping women’s sports for biological females.

“We are really back to what Title IX was originally established to do and that was to protect social discrimination. Women should feel safe in their locker rooms. They should feel safe in their spaces. They shouldn’t have to be exposed to men undressing in front of them,” McMahon said Thursday.

“I heard one person the other day say, ‘Well, guys should just hold the shower curtain in front of them so that they aren’t exposing themselves.’ I mean really, that’s just not what we should be doing. We should be making sure that Title IX, which is the law, should be enforced.”

The Biden administration education secretary, Miguel Angel Cardona, supported allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s and girls’ sports.

Cardona helped draft the Title IX changes that would have prohibited blanket bans of transgender athletes on public school teams.

In a June 2021 interview with ESPN, Cardona said “transgender girls have a right to compete.”

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Linda McMahon testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“Our LGBTQ students have endured more harassment than most other groups. It’s critically important that we stand with them and give them opportunities to engage in what every other child can engage in without harassment,” Cardona said.

“It’s their right as a student to participate in these activities. And we know sports does more than just put ribbons on the first-, second- and third-place winner,” he said. “We know that it provides opportunities for students to become a part of a team, to learn a lot about themselves, to set goals and reach them and to challenge themselves. Athletics provides that in our K-12 systems and in our colleges, and all students deserve an opportunity to engage in that.”

Now, under the Trump administration, there will be multiple layers of efforts to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports, and McMahon’s agenda will be one of those layers if she is confirmed.

A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, do not think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democratic, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.

February 13, 2025
Dems spar over DOGE cuts with Trump education nominee Linda McMahon

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee sparred with President Donald Trump’s Department of Education nominee Linda McMahon Thursday over cost-cutting efforts underway by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an agency led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

“I believe the American people spoke loudly in the election last November to say that they want to look at waste, fraud and abuse in our government,” McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), said.

Pressed by Democrats including Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., if she would follow through with cuts suggested by the “DOGE brothers,” McMahon said she can be counted on to follow congressional statute “because that’s the law.”

TRUMP EDUCATION NOMINEE LINDA MCMAHON SAYS SHUTTING DOWN DOE WOULD ‘REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION’

Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, testifies during her Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on February 13, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images))

Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat, also asked if McMahon believes DOGE should have access to “private student data,” suggesting that their probes “should frighten everyone.”

“It is my understanding that those employees have been onboarded as employees of the Department of Education, and therefore, they operate under the restraints of utilizing access of information,” McMahon said

“That’s not my understanding,” Murray shot back.

“That’s my understanding,” McMahon responded.

Murray said it was “deeply disturbing” that DOGE staffers aren’t “held accountable” and that it should “frighten everyone” if they have access to students’ private information.

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

LInda McMahon worked as head of the Small Business Administration in President Trump’s first term as president. They are shown together in this 2019 photo. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

The Department of Education canceled over $100 million in grants for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as part of a broader cost-cutting effort led by DOGE, Fox News Digital previously reported. DOGE announced the termination of 89 DOE contracts, totaling $881 million, including $101 million allocated for DEI programs focused on educating educators about oppression, privilege, and power in a post on X Monday.

“Your tax dollars were spent on this,” Musk wrote of the DOE spending.

DOGE reported that the Department of Education spent an additional $1.5 million on a contractor to “observe mailing and clerical operations” at a mail center, a contract that was also terminated in the dramatic spending audit.

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Linda McMahon, shown on Capitol Hill in this Jan. 2025 file photo, is expected to receive the support of Republican senators but is unlikely to see many Democrats cross the aisle to vote for her confirmation. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At one point moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised the terminated contracts as she asked about fears from some educators that grants for tutoring might be on the chopping block.

“There are many worthwhile programs that we should keep,” McMahon said in response to Collins. “But I’m not yet apprized of them. I want to study them. I’d like to get back and talk to you more and to work with you.”

DOGE has been on a tirade to cut spending within the DOE, including terminating three grants in early February, one of which funded an institution that had hosted faculty workshops on “Decolonizing the Curriculum.” President Donald Trump’s early executive orders launched a federal review of DEI practices in federally funded educational institutions.

McMahon testified during Thursday’s hearing that she has “not” had any conversation with Musk about the Department of Education.

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
Trump Education nominee Linda McMahon says shutting down DOE would ‘require congressional action’

Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO Linda McMahon, tapped by President Donald Trump to head the Department of Education, is facing questions Thursday morning about her views on the agency’s future amid Trump’s quest to shutter it “immediately.”

During the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., first asked McMahon about whether she agrees the DOE would need Congressional approval to close it entirely.

“Certainly, President Trump understands that we’ll be working with Congress,” McMahon responded. “We’d like to do this right. We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with, that would have a better functioning Department of Education, but it certainly does require congressional action.”

INTO THE RING: TRUMP EDUCATION CHIEF PICK MCMAHON TO TESTIFY ON CUTTING ‘RED TAPE’ AMID DOGE SWEEPS

Trump hopes Linda McMahon will ‘put herself out of a job’ if confirmed to lead the Department of Education. (Getty Images)

Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., asked McMahon a similar question after a line of questioning about her support for Pell Grants.

“Let me just once again, get your feelings on this, that if there is a movement to abolish the Department of Education, it has to go through the United States Congress?” Sanders asked.

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President Donald Trump is seen in this March 2019 photo with McMahon, who worked in his first administration on the Small Business Administration. ( REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

McMahon responded, “Yes, it is set up by the United States Congress, and we work with Congress. It clearly cannot be shut down without it.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, asked McMahon about Maine’s TRIO programs that help first-generation college students from families without higher education experience. Collins questioned how these programs could be maintained if the Department of Education were “abolish[ed]” or “substantially reorganized.”

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“These various things, especially the trio program, which we both agreed was just hit with a terrible blow just by regulatory action when some of the students who were applying, their applications were rejected simply because of spacing on a form. And that kind of regulatory control just cannot stand. That is just impossible.”

“If I am confirmed to be able to get in and assess programs, how they can have the best oversight possible, how we can really take the bureaucracy out of education,” she said.

McMahon, nominated to head the Education Department, is stepping into a role that Trump has suggested he is seeking to eliminate. Trump recently indicated that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”

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President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to eliminate the Dept of Education and bring the power back to the states (Getty Images)

Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Trump reiterated his intention to close the department, calling for it to be shut down “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” Trump said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

Jamie Joseph is a writer who covers politics. She leads Fox News Digital coverage of the Senate.

February 13, 2025
Into the ring: Trump education chief pick McMahon to testify on cutting ‘red tape’ amid DOGE sweeps

FIRST ON FOX: Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Education, will testify before the Senate on Thursday, centering her opening remarks around creating “a better future for every American learner.”

The Trump nominee, who was tapped in November, will kick off her confirmation process during a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday morning. Republican Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Katie Britt of Alabama will introduce McMahon before the hearing, Fox News has learned.

McMahon will focus her remarks on enacting Trump’s vision with the idea that “education is the issue that determines our national success and prepares American workers to win the future,” according to an excerpt of her opening remarks, shared first with Fox News Digital.

“I would like to thank President Trump for his confidence in me to lead a Department whose mission and authority were a special focus of his campaign. He pledged to make American education the best in the world, return education to the states where it belongs, and free American students from the education bureaucracy through school choice,” McMahon will say in her opening remarks.

TRUMP EDUCATION DEPT LAUNCHES PROBE INTO ‘EXPLOSION OF ANTISEMITISM’ AT 5 UNIVERSITIES

Linda McMahon arrives for a meeting in Washington, D.C. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg)

McMahon is being boosted to head the department that Trump has suggested he wants to dismantle during his term, recently saying that if McMahon is confirmed, he wants her to “put herself out of a job.”

Trump said Wednesday just hours ahead of McMahon’s hearing that he wanted to close the Education Department “immediately.”

“It’s a big con job,” he said. “They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”

His comments came as Trump’s executive agency, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by Elon Musk, continues its financial audit of the federal government.

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McMahon previously served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term before stepping down in 2019 to “return to the private sector.”

She plans to say during her opening remarks Thursday, “My experience as a business owner and leader of the Small Business Administration, as a public servant in the state of Connecticut, and more than a decade of service as a college trustee has taught me to put parents, teachers, and students, not bureaucracy, first.”

“Outstanding teachers are tired of political ideology in their curriculum and red tape on their desks. This is why school choice is a growing movement across the nation: it offers teachers and parents an alternative to classrooms that are micromanaged from Washington, D.C.”

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Linda McMahon after announcing her resignation on March 29, 2019. (Joshua Roberts)

The Trump nominee also plans to highlight antisemitism in schools and the issue of biological males competing in women’s and girls’ sports.

“If I am confirmed, the department will not stand idly by while Jewish students are attacked and discriminated against,” her remarks read. “It will stop forcing schools to let boys and men into female sports and spaces. And it will protect the rights of parents to direct the moral education of their children.”

In her opening remarks, McMahon will note that “many Americans today are experiencing a system in decline” but that “the opportunity before us these next four years is momentous.”

Linda McMahon speaks at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024. (Mike Segar)

“It is my great honor to announce that Linda McMahon, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration, will be the United States Secretary of Education,” Trump said in his nomination announcement in November.

Before being tapped to head the Education Department, McMahon founded WWE with her husband in 1980, which has grown into a global wrestling entertainment network.

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“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” the press release added. “Linda served for two years on the Connecticut Board of Education, where she was one of fifteen members overseeing all Public Education in the State, including its Technical High School system.”

After McMahon’s confirmation hearing, the committee will schedule a vote on whether to advance her nomination to a full floor vote.

Aubrie Spady is a Writer for Fox News Digital.

February 13, 2025