White House press secretary ties voting bill to unrelated anti-trans Trump agenda in Fox News appearance

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used a Monday morning appearance on Fox News morning show, Fox & Friends, to promote the Trump administration’s push for the SAVE America Act, describing the Republican-backed proposal as a package of election restrictions with added culture war priorities that the president wants quickly delivered to his desk.

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Asked about the legislation, Leavitt told the Fox News hosts that the White House expects the Senate to move soon.

“The president has made it very clear. He wants that bill on his desk here at the White House as soon as possible,” she said.

Leavitt characterized the proposal as “five of the most common sense proposals that any party has ever put forward,” then listed them in a rapid fire sequence: stricter voter identification rules, proof of citizenship requirements to vote, restrictions on mail-in ballots, bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and prohibitions on transgender women and girls competing in women’s sports.

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She said that mail ballots “create a tremendous amount of fraud in our electoral system.” That’s not true. She then pivoted and said, “Cannot transgender mutilate our young children. We need a ban on those procedures and surgeries. And then of course, no men in women’s sports.”

Gender-affirming care for young children typically includes social support and counseling, not medical interventions and no surgeries.

The bill Leavitt was talking about, a different version of which has already passed the House, would require Americans registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of citizenship, such as a U.S. passport or birth certificate, and to comply with stricter voter identification rules. Voting rights advocates say the changes make it harder for millions of eligible voters to register or update their voter records.

Civil rights groups have warned that such requirements disproportionately affect people whose legal documents no longer match their names, including married people and transgender Americans.

Leavitt’s remarks reflected a familiar pattern in President Donald Trump’s second term: folding attacks on transgender people into policy debates that have little to do with LGBTQ+ issues. From immigration and education to military policy and election administration, the administration has repeatedly inserted transgender rights into broader political arguments, presenting the issue as a defining front in its cultural agenda.

Related: How the Republicans’ SAVE America Act will disenfranchise married & LGBTQ+ Americans

Related: Civil rights group calls Trump’s demand to add anti-trans language to voting bill ‘weak and desperate’

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Transgender people, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA’s Law School, make up 1 percent of the U.S. population, or about 2.8 million people.

Trump has urged congressional Republicans to pass the legislation and has signaled that anti-transgender provisions must be part of the effort. Advocates say the approach is meant to shift attention away from other policy debates.

“It’s giving weak and desperate,” said Laurel Powell, director of communications for the Human Rights Campaign. “Donald Trump is flailing and has never been more out of touch with what the American public wants or needs. His anti-democratic bill threatens the right to vote for millions of people who have done nothing more controversial than changing their name.”

Powell added that the administration’s rhetoric was a distraction from economic and foreign policy challenges.

“Now, as gas prices rise, job losses roll in, and he prosecutes an illegal war in the Middle East, Donald Trump is trying to tack on attacks on trans people in the mistaken belief that it will make the rest of it any less rotten,” Powell said. “As voters proved in November, they are seeing through these anti-equality attacks that do nothing to lower prices, provide health care, or protect our families.”

A spokesperson for GLAAD also criticized Leavitt’s remarks, saying the administration’s rhetoric misrepresents transgender health care and distracts from the substance of the voting legislation.

“Language like this is inaccurate, inflammatory, and extreme, and unfortunately, is standard for this administration in describing most things they disagree with,” the spokesperson said. “Health care for transgender people is supported by every major medical association, and it is irrelevant to this bill, which seeks to suppress the will of millions of eligible voters.”

The spokesperson added that the administration’s focus on transgender people comes at the expense of addressing the issues most Americans say affect their daily lives.

“The administration has prioritized attacking our trans family, friends, and neighbors rather than focusing on voters’ top issues, including the skyrocketing price of groceries, utilities, health care, and housing,” the spokesperson said. “This obsession with attacking trans people comes at a cost for everyone. We all deserve leaders who will work to improve everyone's life and protect our fundamental freedoms.”