The Trump administration is using WNBA star Sophie Cunningham’s statement that transgender athletes should not play in women’s sports to boost their own policy agenda, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to reporters during a press briefing that President Donald Trump was “following” the coverage around the Indiana Fever player’s comments from an ESPN interview this week, according to The Post.
Trump has made his stance on the issue clear and “moved swiftly last year to roll back transgender policies implemented by the Biden administration, including issuing an executive order that aimed to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams,” The Post reported.
“We want to protect women and girls,” Leavitt said during the White House press conference Thursday. She added that Cunningham’s remarks were “speaking the ‘truth’ about transgender female athletes,” according to The Post.
“And the backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing figures across the country is astonishing,” Leavitt added.
Cunningham’s interview has drawn backlash from other WNBA players. She has stood by her statements.
“I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” Cunningham told ESPN.
Republican lawmakers and tennis legend Martina Navratilova have sided with Cunningham.
The Department of Education shared a photo of Cunningham wearing a crown, captioned with a message declaring that common sense prevails.
Common sense prevails
https://t.co/hJJhKZ0CcB pic.twitter.com/4WPOgHfttM — U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) July 22, 2026
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