Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has lingering questions about President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and his past stances on transgender treatments for minors and abortion, and he says the nominee hasn’t answered his inquiries.
The Missouri Republican told Fox News Digital in an interview that he remains concerned by Oz’s past of “promoting transgender surgeries for minors, promoting transgender hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors.”
He submitted a number of questions to Oz on the subjects earlier in the month, but Hawley said Oz never answered. “He hasn’t. Which I think is strange,” he said.
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Josh Hawley, left, still has concerns about where Dr. Oz, right, stands on abortion and transgender treatments for minors. (Reuters)
“I’m hoping that he’s changed his views,” Hawley added. “I’d like to hear from him that he is in total alignment with President Trump, who has been tremendously strong on this.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “Every member of the Trump administration is working from the same playbook, President Trump’s playbook, to restore commonsense policies and put an end to left-wing ideological nonsense afflicting our government.”
“We look forward to the Senate’s swift confirmation of Dr. Oz so he can join the rest of our all-star team at HHS working to Make America Healthy Again by restoring common sense, transparency, and confidence in our healthcare apparatus.”
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Trump selected Oz to lead CMS. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
As Hawley noted, Oz has used his television show to platform people who supported and promoted transgender treatments, particularly for minors.
Oz hosted two transgender children on his show in 2010 in a segment titled, “Transgender Kids: Too Young to Decide?”
Josie, 8, and the child’s mother, Vanessia, claimed that Josie’s life improved once the male-born child began embracing a feminine lifestyle. Isaac, who was 15, and the minor’s parents, Arturo and Monica, revealed that they decided to let their female-born teenager begin taking puberty blockers and have the teenager’s breasts removed in a double mastectomy.
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Transgender issues have become increasingly prominent in politics. (Adobe Stock)
The segment was touted as “groundbreaking” by LGBTQ activist group GLAAD, which told supporters to thank Oz.
The television doctor has also had a history of supporting abortion.
In a 2019 interview on popular radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Oz said he was concerned by state laws aimed at restricting or limiting abortion, saying it’s “a hard issue for everybody.”
And while on “a personal level,” he didn’t like abortion, he also believed he should not “interfere with everyone else’s stuff.”
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Abortion rights activists rally at the Washington Monument before a march to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on May 14, 2022. (JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images)
“Because it’s hard enough to get into life as it is,” he added.
When Oz ran for Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican in 2022, he still opposed government jurisdiction on the subject of abortion.
“I don’t want the federal government involved with that at all,” he said during a debate with now-Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive, to put the best ideas forward, so states can decide for themselves.”
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Asked whether he would vote to confirm Oz even without answers to his questions, Hawley wouldn’t say. “I just have to believe that he will respond here.”
