The new Trump admin is bringing back law and order. That starts with the Department of Justice.
But the new U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi just received an eyebrow-raising letter in the mail she can’t ignore.
Trump’s DOJ Tipped Off About Who’s Getting In Their Way In Huge Court Battle
A controversy has emerged involving a transgender youth advocate and doctor who supports those opposing President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at protecting children from chemical and surgical interventions. Leaders of the Arizona state legislature have raised concerns with the Department of Justice (DOJ), suggesting that Dr. Daniel Shumer, a key figure in this debate, may have plagiarized parts of his expert report.
Dr. Shumer, who oversees the Child and Adolescent Gender Services Clinic at the University of Michigan’s children’s hospital, has acknowledged committing plagiarism by his university’s standards. This admission came in the context of his role as an expert witness in a legal challenge to Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act. In a letter dated March 11 and obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Arizona State Senate President Warren Peterson and Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Steve Montenegro informed Attorney General Pam Bondi of the issue.
“Because Dr. Shumer has served as an expert witness under the previous administration and is currently an expert witness against the United States, we write to bring important legal and ethical issues to your attention,” the letter from Peterson and Montenegro stated. They pointed out that Shumer’s testimony in two cases opposing Trump’s executive order contains “identical or virtually identical language” to the problematic sections identified in the Arizona case.
The Arizona legislature took action on March 5, filing a motion to exclude Shumer’s testimony from their case. The motion cited “numerous instances in his expert report containing identical or virtually identical language to other expert witnesses, without attribution.” It also revealed that Shumer has been paid nearly $150,000 over the past four or five years to provide expert testimony opposing state bans on child s*x change procedures. Initially, Shumer denied the plagiarism allegations but later “admitted that it was a mistake not to cite the other experts,” according to the motion.
Shumer’s involvement extends beyond Arizona. He previously collaborated with the Biden administration’s DOJ as an expert witness in a case challenging Alabama’s ban on child s*x changes. According to the letter to Bondi, Shumer claimed his contract with the government lasted until early February. “We do not know the exact dates when the Department of Justice terminated Dr. Shumer and the State of Washington retained Dr. Shumer,” the letter noted. “However, the timeline raises questions about whether Dr. Shumer began work against the United States while he still was serving as a witness for the United States.”
The Arizona leaders urged the DOJ to investigate further, stating, “The Department of Justice may want to evaluate whether Dr. Shumer adhered to his retention agreement and any other obligations that applied to him while he was a witness for the United States.” They also suggested that the DOJ consider whether Shumer’s actions “raise perjury issues.” The letter explained, “He claimed that the words in the report were his,” and “He testified that he took sources identified in his report and distilled them into his own words.”
The controversy ties back to Trump’s executive order, signed on January 28, which limits federal funding for what it describes as the “so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one s*x to another.” Since its signing, two judges have intervened, preventing the Trump administration from withholding funds from hospitals that carry out these procedures on children.
Early on in his administration President Donald Trump put his signature on an executive order that bars transgender women and girls from taking part in female sports. Dubbed the “No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order,” this marks the fourth time since his inauguration on January 20 that he has issued an executive order aimed at transgender individuals.
Speaking at the White House with a group of women and girls gathered behind him, Trump declared, “The radical left has waged an all-out campaign to erase the very concept of biological s*x and replace it with a militant transgender ideology.” He went on to say, “With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over.”
During his remarks, the president cited several instances of what he called “men claiming to be girls” and “stealing” victories from female athletes. At one point, he repeated an inaccurate assertion that Imane Khelif, an Algerian female boxer who faced intense public scrutiny over “her” gender during the Paris Olympics in August, had been assigned male at birth. The individual, though, was obviously a male with male chromosomes.
Earlier that day, White House officials held a press call to discuss the forthcoming executive order. They predicted that news outlets would likely focus on the term “transgender” in their coverage, but insisted, “this has nothing to do with that.” Instead, they framed the order as a means to safeguard women’s opportunities for safe and equitable competition in athletics, outlining two key approaches to achieve this goal.
The first step, according to the officials, involves reversing the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, the civil rights law that prohibits s*x-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities. Under the previous administration’s rules, schools had to permit transgender students to join sports teams and use facilities like restrooms that matched their gender identities. Trump’s new order scraps that policy, prohibiting students assigned male at birth from competing in girls’ and women’s sports or accessing women’s restrooms. The Education Department will now be responsible for probing any breaches of this directive, and the officials noted that the administration “will be asking for investigations” into potential violations.
The second prong of the plan entails collaboration with sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, to enforce these standards beyond school settings. The officials added that the policy will also influence U.S. visa procedures. One official explained, “If you are coming into the country and you are claiming that you are a woman but you are a male here to compete against women, we’re going to be reviewing that for fraud.”
Public sentiment on this issue has shifted in recent years, according to a Gallup survey conducted in May 2023. The poll revealed that nearly 70% of American adults believe transgender athletes should only compete on teams matching their birth s*x, an increase from 62% in 2021. Currently, 27 states have enacted laws, regulations, or policies that prevent transgender students from participating in sports aligned with their gender identities.
