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Tuesday, February 4, 2025
After aide said it was $50 million, Trump says Biden earmarked $100 million in ‘condoms to Hamas’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk has discovered that “$100 million dollars” had been earmarked by Joe Biden’s administration for “condoms to Hamas.”
Trump makes the comments in response to a question about Musk while signing executive orders in the White House.
The claim was first made last week by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who did not provide further information but placed the figure at $50 million and said it was for condoms in Gaza, not Hamas specifically.
Biden’s former deputy assistant secretary of Israeli-Palestinian affairs dismissed the claim then as a “feverish dream.”
The US Agency for International Development’s spending on injectable contraceptives, contraceptive implants, IUDs, male condoms, oral contraceptives, Standard Days Method and female condoms amounted to $60 million in the fiscal year of 2023, and that was across the entire globe.
Moreover, no condoms went to the Middle East and the only country to receive a small amount — $45,000 — in other contraceptives was Jordan. Seven million dollars in condoms were distributed globally in the 2023 fiscal year, figures from the most recently produced USAID report show, with the vast majority of those funds earmarked for Africa.
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