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New Jersey Democrat candidate for governor Mikie Sherrill has not addressed her congressional voting record on bills related to transgender athletes in women's sports. 

President Donald Trump called out Sherrill for her stance on the issue in a Truth Social post on Thursday. 

"Sherrill wants Open Borders (again!), men playing in Women’s Sports, Transgender for everyone, and all of the things that almost DESTROYED America," Trump wrote.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to Sherrill's campaign multiple times for clarification on her stance on the issue of trans athletes in women's sports but has not received a response. 

Sherrill has been the subject of criticism on social media for her congressional voting record on the issue. She voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act twice when the bill was first proposed in 2023 and again in February when it was reintroduced. 

Sherrill also co-sponsored the Equality Act but also co-sponsored the Transgender Bill of Rights, which more explicitly "guarantees certain rights for transgender and nonbinary people with respect to public services and accommodations." 

Sherrill is a self-proclaimed "advocate for women’s athletics."  She previously proposed the Women in NCAA Sports Act in the U.S. House of Representatives alongside Rep. Maria Salazar, D-Fla., and led a resolution to honor Billie Jean King with the Congressional Gold Medal. 

However, she has recently been the subject of criticism on social media for her congressional voting record on the issue of trans athletes in women's sports. 

Former University of Pennsylvania women's swimmer and women's sports activist Paula Scanlan, the first UPenn swimmer to speak up about the school's Lia Thomas controversy in 2022, called out Sherrill on X over the issue this week. 

The New Jersey GOP attacked Sherrill for this record directly in a campaign graphic last week. 

Sherrill's opponent, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, mentioned this issue for Sherrill in a post back in July. 

New Jersey is the original home state of well-known transgender track and field athlete Sadie Schreiner, who previously competed for Rochester Institute for Technology and went viral multiple times for posting videos sharing the athlete's firsthand experience as a biological male trans athlete competing against, and often dominating, females. Schreiner is from Hillsborough, according to the athlete's RIT Athletics page. 

Schreiner has filed a lawsuit against Princeton University for an alleged incident at a May 3 women's race. Schreiner's lawsuit claimed the athlete attempted to participate in the women's 200-meter sprint at the Larry Ellis Invitational as one of the 141 participants unattached to a university or club. The suit alleges officials told Schreiner the athlete could not participate 15 minutes before the race began. 

Schreiner alleged the university violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which designates "gender identity or expression" as a protected status. 

Schreiner has since filed a second lawsuit against SUNY Genesco for being banned from a women's race in March, per multiple reports.

INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM'S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS

Back in January, a New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports. Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. 

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. Among 1,022 Republicans, that number was 94%. 

The 81 independents who were interviewed represented the group with the most reluctance to say transgender athletes shouldn't be allowed to compete. Just 64% said they were against it, while 26% refused to answer. Just 3% of the Democrats and 1% of the Republicans refused to answer.

Nearly 70% of Americans say biological men should not be permitted to compete in women's sports, according to a Gallup poll last year.

Additional data suggests the issue impacted the 2024 election. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

Meanwhile, prominent Democratic figures have backpedaled on their party's support for males in women's sports, including Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and even Kamala Harris. 

In her recent book "107 Days," Harris wrote that she "agrees" with the concerns of parents and athletes who oppose letting males compete with females.

"I agree with the concerns expressed by parents and players that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unfair student athletic advantage when we determine who plays on which teams, especially in contact sports," Harris wrote. 

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The New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections each feature Democratic candidates with a congressional record of supporting trans athletes in women's sports. 

Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia have come under scrutiny in recent days for their stances on the subject. 

Spanberger was the subject of a recent viral interview with ABC13 when she was asked about trans people playing women's and girls' sports and using women's bathrooms. The Democratic candidate did not take a concrete stance.

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"So in Virginia, until very recently, we have had a process in place where on an individual, one by one basis, schools, principals, parents, coaches were making decisions based on fairness, competitiveness and safety, where a child might be able or might not be able to play in a particular sport," Spanberger said. 

When asked if she would support a bill that allows trans people in female bathrooms and sports, Spanberger said, "I would support a bill that would put clear provisions in place that provide a lot of local ability for input, based on the age of children, based on the type of sport, based on competitiveness. Because certainly I recognize, I absolutely recognize.

"I recognize the concern that families and community members might have about the safety of their own kids, about competitiveness, about fairness. And I think the process that was in place for 10 years was one that was working. It was one that took individual circumstances and individual communities into account, and I think that is the process that Virginia should continue to utilize."

Spanberger was a co-sponsor of The Equality Act in 2021, which "prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics," and then in 2023 she voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would have protected female athletes from trans competitors nationally. 

Meanwhile, Sherill has been the subject of criticism on social media for her congressional voting record on the issue. 

INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM'S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS

Former University of Pennsylvania women's swimmer and women's sports activist Paula Scanlan, the first UPenn swimmer to speak up about the school's Lia Thomas controversy in 2022, called out Sherrill on X over the issue this week. 

Like Spanberger, Sherrill also co-sponsored the Equality Act, but Sherrill also co-sponsored the Transgender Bill of Rights, which more explicitly "guarantees certain rights for transgender and nonbinary people with respect to public services and accommodations," including sports teams consistent with gender identity. 

Sherrill also voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, twice, when the bill was first proposed in 2023, and again this past February when it was re-introduced. 

The New Jersey GOP attacked Sherrill for this record directly in a campaign graphic last week. 

Sherrill's opponent, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, mentioned this issue for Sherrill in a post back in July. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to both Sherrill's and Spanberger's campaigns requesting clarity on why they voted the way they did on those previous bills, and whether they would enforce President Donald Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order as governor of their respective states. Neither campaign has provided a response. 

Back in January, a New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports. Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. 

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. Among 1,022 Republicans, that number was 94%. 

The 81 independents who were interviewed represented the group with the most reluctance to say transgender athletes shouldn't be allowed to compete. Just 64% said they were against it, while 26% refused to answer. Just 3% of the Democrats and 1% of the Republicans refused to answer.

Nearly 70% of Americans say biological men should not be permitted to compete in women's sports, according to a Gallup poll last year.

Additional data suggests the issue impacted the 2024 election. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

Meanwhile, prominent Democratic figures have backpedaled on their party's support for males in women's sports, including Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsom and even Kamala Harris. 

In her recent book "107 Days," Harris wrote that she "agrees" with the concerns of parents and athletes who oppose letting males compete with females.

"I agree with the concerns expressed by parents and players that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unfair student athletic advantage when we determine who plays on which teams, especially in contact sports," Harris wrote. 

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EXCLUSIVE: Attorneys general from 27 states and the U.S. Territory of Guam have signed onto amicus briefs to support the defense in a forthcoming Supreme Court case to protect women's sports from transgender athlete inclusion. 

The Supreme Court agreed in July to review state bans on transgender athletes participating in public school sports. The two cases it will hear, Little vs. Hecox in Idaho and BPJ vs. West Virginia, focused on state laws that prevent biological males from competing on girls’ and women's sports teams. 

The plaintiffs in the cases, transgender athletes, sought to bypass those laws while the defendants, state authorities in West Virginia and Idaho, seek to uphold the laws. 

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Now, the AGs from Arkansas, Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming, and the U.S. Territory of Guam are all throwing their support behind the defendants, as seen in copies of the briefs obtained by Fox News Digital.

The AGs from Idaho and West Virginia only signed the briefs for the case that is not based in their state, as they are already a defendant in the case within their state. 

"At the heart of these cases is a fundamental question: can states uphold laws that preserve fairness and opportunity for female athletes? The answer must be yes. Across the country, girls and women are once again being asked to overcome structural disadvantages that Title IX was designed to eliminate. This is not about exclusion—it’s about preserving the integrity of female athletics," Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. 

"We must protect these opportunities because law, science, and the public will is on our side. We believe the court will be as well."

INSIDE GAVIN NEWSOM'S TRANSGENDER VOLLEYBALL CRISIS

West Virginia, which enacted the "Save Women’s Sports Act" in 2021, is appealing a lower-court ruling that allowed transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson to compete on the school’s cross-country and track teams. This past year, Pepper-Jackson qualified for the West Virginia girls high school state track meet, finishing third in the discus throw and eighth in the shot put in the Class AAA division. 

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Pepper-Jackson, who has been taking puberty-blocking medication, in an April 2024 ruling based on the Constitution's equal protection clause.

Idaho, which became the first state in the country to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports in 2020, asked the Supreme Court to hear its case involving Lindsay Hecox, a trans athlete wanting to compete on Boise State’s women’s track team. 

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld an injunction blocking Idaho state law in 2023. 

Hecox asked the Supreme Court earlier this month to drop her challenge against the Idaho state law. 

"While playing women’s sports is important to Ms. Hecox, her top priority is graduating from college and living a healthy and safe life," a filing from Hecox's attorneys read. "Ms. Hecox has therefore decided to permanently withdraw and refrain from playing any women’s sports at BSU or in Idaho covered by H.B. 500."  

Meanwhile, Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador hopes for the Supreme Court to cast a decision with a wider impact than just letting one state carry out its own specific law on the issue. He wants a new national precedent. "I believe that that's what they're gonna do," Labrador told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. 

"I think they're going to have a big ruling on whether men can participate in women's sports, and more importantly, how to determine whether transgender individuals are protected by the federal constitutions and state and federal laws." 

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The Buffalo Bills played a video tribute to Charlie Kirk Thursday night before a game against the Miami Dolphins. 

A video memorializing Kirk played on the jumbotron at Highmark Stadium.

The Bills became the 10th NFL team to honor Kirk, joining the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals who did so in Week 2. 

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The NFL mandated that the Packers hold a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Commanders last Thursday but later put out a statement saying the rest of the league's teams would make their own decisions on whether to honor Kirk Sunday and Monday. 

The Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders did not honor Kirk ahead of their games. 

At least one NFL team has already made it a point to fire an employee who made insensitive comments after Kirk's assassination. 

FCC CHAIR LEVELS THREAT AGAINST ABC, DISNEY AFTER KIMMEL SUGGESTED CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSIN WAS ‘MAGA’

The Carolina Panthers fired Charlie Rock, a member of the team’s communications department, after social media posts linked to Rock appeared to show him questioning why people were sad that Kirk had been shot and killed. 

"The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers," the team said in a statement posted to social media. "We do not condone violence of any kind. We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual."

Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 during an event at Utah Valley University. Utah man Tyler Robinson was charged in Kirk's killing.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution declaring Oct. 14, 2025, Kirk's birthday as a National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., first announced the designation of the resolution Sept. 16 and said Kirk was a "magnetic leader, a loving father and husband and a friend and inspiration to so many."

"Charlie loved our nation and its founding principles and believed deeply in his faith, in his family and in the beauty of ideas and discussion," he added.

Fox News Digital's Emma Bussey contributed to this report.

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California high school senior Hadeel Hazameh believes she was brainwashed.

For the previous three school years, she had to watch biological male athletes finish ahead of her in at least seven track and field events. But things got even harder during the volleyball season, when she had to share a locker room with a biological male transgender teammate. 

She put her inner feelings and religious duties aside to tolerate it.

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"I shouldn't have had to be scared to change in the women's locker room. I'm not allowed to show my hair or my body to biological males, and I shouldn't have had to deal with that. I should have had those privacy rights since the second I walked into the locker room since my freshman year," Hazameh, a practicing Muslim, told Fox News Digital.

"I wish they would just understand there's some things I just can not do because of my religious faith… there's stuff I just can't do and I wish I had more privacy protecting those rights." 

Now, she's taking action. 

Hazameh, in her final season, has stepped away from her team at Jurupa Valley High School and joined a lawsuit with her family against the Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD), the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and California Department of Education (CDE). 

But even though he is not listed as a defendant on the lawsuit, Hazameh is also placing blame on the shoulders of Governor Gavin Newsom for what she has had to endure in high school. 

Newsom has, on multiple occasions now, said he believes males competing in girls' sports is unfair. Yet, under his leadership, nothing has been done to prevent it.

"If our governor himself says that it’s unfair, then he’s the one who should act on it… he should be the one to stand up, it shouldn’t have to be girls like me," Hazameh said. "What are you here to do?" 

Hazameh's teammate Alyssa McPherson, a practicing Catholic who has also argued her religious liberties have been infringed upon, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit as well. 

"I've always known that it wasn't quite right… it didn't feel right," McPherson said, later adding that she believes the issue will affect the decisions of young voters in the state's gubernatorial election next year. 

"I definitely think this will be a big factor that people will consider." 

Maribel Munoz is the mother of McPherson and former Jurupa Valley volleyball player Madison McPherson, who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, being represented by Advocates for Faith & Freedom. Munoz is one of many Southern California parents who has been trying to confront the issue at her child's school for years. But current California policy has put up a stonewall.

"They're completely disregarding our girls," Munoz told Fox News Digital of the state government. "Having a boy on the team just makes it so difficult… our government, they're not supporting our kids." 

When Munoz tried to make complaints directly to the school, she says she was told the issue was "above their pay grade." 

"Last year I complained about many issues to athletic administrators, vice principal, principal and even our superintendent. If I wasn’t ignored, I was told it was above their pay grade," Munoz said. 

So far, four schools have already been confirmed to have forfeited to Jurupa Valley this season amid controversy involving the trans athlete. The first school that publicly announced it would do so was Riverside Poly High School back in August. 

Fred Brayton, the father of a Riverside Polly player, told Fox News Digital that he also blames Newsom for years of devotion by young female athletes going to waste. 

"Girls devote years of hard work to earn opportunities in athletics, and California’s policies under Governor Newsom have created situations where those opportunities are being put at risk. If sports are divided by sex to protect fairness, why are we treating gender identity as the deciding factor?" Brayton said. 

"By defining participation based solely on gender identity, the state has chosen inclusion for a few at the expense of fairness for many. Protecting the intent of Title IX and the rights of biological girls is not about exclusion — it’s about ensuring that fairness, safety, and opportunity remain at the heart of athletics."

The JUSD has directly encouraged critics to take up the issue with government officials and lawmakers, in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. 

"School districts do not write laws for the state of California, nor do they have the power to ignore them or change them. However, as primarily state-funded agencies, they are required to follow them. As these issues play out in our courts and the media, any advocacy on these matters should be directed at state and federal officials elected to make laws and policies that affect public education," the statement read. 

Santa Rosa Junior College was thrust into its own controversy involving a transgender player on its women's volleyball team when three players filed a Title IX complaint about it in the first week of September. 

Santa Rosa sophomore Madison Shaw told Fox News Digital that the trans player allegedly caused a concussion to a female athlete with a spike to the head. Fellow Santa Rosa women's player Gracie Shaw says she herself was also hit in the head with one of the trans athlete's spikes. 

The issue of trans athletes in women's volleyball has prompted unique scrutiny due to the potential for head injuries. The awareness for this grew after former North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb suffered permanent brain damage after being spiked in the head by a trans opponent in 2022. 

Madison Shaw is also asking why Newsom hasn't done anything to stop this. 

"Gavin Newsom already said this is unfair. But we’re not going to do anything about it? For him to acknowledge that this is unfair, really means that there should be change. We should uphold our Title IX rights," Madison Shaw said. 

Like Jurupa Valley, Santa Rosa Junior College has deferred blame for the situation to the California laws they have to follow. 

"The District complies with California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) regulations, which govern student eligibility and participation in our athletic programs," read a statement provided to Fox News Digital by a school spokesperson. The school has not responded to Madison and Gracie Shaw's allegations that the trans athlete spiked the ball into female players' heads and caused a concussion to one of them. 

California has faced a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice for letting males in girls' sports since July. 

On top of that, one of the state's public universities, San Jose State, is under a Title IX investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for a scandal involving a transgender player that erupted last fall. 

SJSU receives the majority of its operating budget from state appropriation, with state funding accounting for approximately 52% of its total budget, per the university. 

Former SJSU player Blaire Fleming, a biological male, played for the university for three seasons. A lawsuit led by former co-captain Brooke Slusser alleges the university withheld Fleming's birth sex from her and other teammates, and that Fleming conspired with an opponent to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match, after Slusser brought public attention to the situation.

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon previously told Fox News Digital the investigation into SJSU "will continue" in an interview in early July. Then in early August, DOJ and the White House sent further warnings after Fox News Digital reported that a conference investigation into Fleming's allegations of conspiring to have Slusser harmed was carried out by the same law firm that is defending the Mountain West against Slusser's lawsuit, which included those same allegations. 

EX-SJSU STAR BROOKE SLUSSER MAKES NEW ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PROBE INTO TRANS TEAMMATE'S ALLEGED PLOT TO HARM HER

Slusser fled the campus, and the entire state, back in February. She has since started a new life in North Carolina. Slusser recently told Fox News Digital she is now working as a girls' junior varsity volleyball coach at a North Carolina high school, and as a coach at a local youth club.

And from a distance, Slusser is also serving as an inspiration for many of the young women volleyball players in California who are speaking out against the state's current practices. 

Jurupa Valley's Hazameh and McPherson, and Santa Rosa's Madison and Gracie Shaw, were all sharing their courts and locker rooms with biological males back in fall 2024, all while the scandal at SJSU gradually escalated and gained national attention. They all paid attention to the situation unfolding at San Jose at the time.

And this fall, they all cite Slusser as an inspiration for their recent decisions to stand up to their own teams and coaches. 

"She was one of the factors," Hazameh said of Slusser.

Madison Shaw added, "When Blaire was hitting a ball, Brooke was saying how much harder and how much force is behind that ball… I could say the same from experience watching our male athlete on our team spike the ball."

Slusser said she advises those young women to "keep to their faith," as they challenge their schools and state officials on the issue.  

"Those are people's basic morals. Those are the things that people live by, and I think people trying to say that we're not allowed to speak up about our beliefs and what we believe in and our faith is so wrong," Slusser said. "Just know that your steps are firm, and I think it's very important that the adults that are coaching these young ladies know that."

As someone who went to college in California for nearly two years, Slusser believes Newsom should shoulder "all" the blame for trans athlete inclusion affecting girls' and women's volleyball teams. 

"He should have to shoulder all of it," Slusser said of Newsom. "He could change it if he wanted to and he hasn't." 

Slusser said she has no plans to step foot back in the state of California until there are changes within the state.

"I'm so traumatized from my time in California, I just don't have a need or a want to ever go back… but honestly until there's some changes made to the state of California I don't see a reason why anyone would want to be there." 

Newsom's office provided a statement to Fox News Digital in response to the complaints by athletes and parents, suggesting the responsibility falls on the CIF, CDE and state legislature, but not on him. 

"CIF is an independent nonprofit that governs high school sports. The California Department of Education is a separate constitutional office. Neither is under the Governor’s authority. CIF and the CDE have stated they follow existing state law — a law that was passed in 2013 and signed by Governor Jerry Brown (not Newsom) and in line with 21 other states. For the law to change, the legislature would need to send the Governor a bill. They have not," the statement read. 

The CIF has not responded to Fox News Digital's requests for response. 

A CDE spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "The California Department of Education cannot comment on this matter, as we cannot comment on pending litigation."

On April 1, the California state legislature blocked two bills that would reverse the current law which allows males in girls' sports. 

Every Democrat voted against it, with Assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur arguing that one of the bills "is really reminiscent to me of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We are moving towards autocracy in this country. In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted, barred from public life." 

Zbur said this while in the presence of a descendant of a holocaust survivor, who had to excuse herself from the chamber, according to GOP Assembly member Kate Sanchez. 

"She stood up and left because she was just so disgusted with the comparison," Sanchez told Fox News Digital. 

Newsom made no public statement at the time encouraging any of his fellow Democrats to support the bill. At that point, Newsom had already made his first public statements disputing the "fairness" of trans athletes in girls' and women's sports, in the first episode of his podcast after he was pressed on the issue by the late Charlie Kirk. 

Fox News Digital asked Newsom's office if the governor would condemn Zbur's statement, but that inquiry has not been responded to.

Newsom's office provided a transcript of an apparent exchange between him and a reporter on April 2, the day after the bills were blocked, in which the governor said he "didn't pay any attention" to the bills. He added that he was preoccupied with Los Angeles wildfire recovery. 

"Well, I didn't pay any attention to the committee yesterday. I was, literally, spent most of the day talking about LA fire recovery with our teams. And progress is being made there, by the way, but we're starting to run up into some of those ‘abundance’ conversations around permitting that's already starting to take shape, where most of my focus was yesterday," Newsom said when asked about the failed vote and the general issue of males in girls' sports.

Then in July, Newsom spoke about the issue in an interview on the "Shawn Ryan Show" saying he has been "amazingly frustrated by it" and that he regularly encounters parents who are angry about the state's policies at his children's soccer games. 

"Every parent coming up says, ‘It’s so unfair.' Like ‘Whoa,' like everywhere I went, progressively-minded people, not bigots, that are champions of trans policy like I am, but didn't like the sports. They were like ‘come on man, you got to figure this out,’" Newsom said. 

Newsom added that his allies in the LGBTQ caucus were "furious" with him after he made his initial comments in March while speaking to Kirk, and even recalled an alleged conversation with President Donald Trump about it. 

"Trump is having the time of his life, and I assure you he is because we've had conversations on this topic, he says ‘you got abortion, I got this.' He told me that, on my mother's grave," Newsom said. 

"And now he's suing and threatening us, and they're just, and you know, I'm the poster child," Newsom added. "But I do think we have to address that issue." 

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USA Cycling has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing social media posts by transgender athlete Chelsea Wolfe, an alternate in BMX for the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics, celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination this week. 

"The views of current and former national team athletes are their own and do not reflect those of USA Cycling. Chelsea Wolfe has not been a member of the USA Cycling National Team or a member of USA Cycling since 2023," the statement read. 

Wolfe's social media statements, made via Instagram story, included a reshare of news of Kirk's assassination with an animated caption that read "We did it!" and a selfie with a caption that suggested Kirk was a "Nazi." 

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"Being a Nazi is completely optional btw. He didn't have to do all that, but he did and now he's dead. Don't live your life in a way that the world is better following your death," Wolfe wrote. 

Wolfe has since been the subject of backlash on social media. Women's tennis legend and known liberal Martina Navratilova and conservative influencer Riley Gaines have been among those to criticize Wolfe publicly. 

Wolfe appeared to acknowledge the backlash in a post on Thursday night, sharing a meme with the caption that read, "Your boos mean nothing. I've seen what makes you cheer." 

Wolfe previously said in a March 2020 Facebook post that the athlete hoped to "burn the American flag" at the Tokyo Olympics. 

"My goal is to win the Olympics so I can burn a U.S. flag on the podium. This is what they focus on during a pandemic. Hurting trans children," Wolfe wrote on Facebook on March 25, 2020. 

WHAT IS A BOLT ACTION RIFLE? WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE GUN USED TO KILL CHARLIE KIRK

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) previously employed a gender eligibility policy that allowed biological males to compete in the women's category at the time of Wolfe's status as an Olympic alternate in 2021. 

The USOPC changed its athlete safety policy in July to suggest it will comply with President Donald Trump's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. 

USA Cycling released an updated policy earlier in September, restricting competitors in the women's category to females, which says, "Female means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell."

Law enforcement officials worked frantically in the aftermath of Kirk's death to track down and arrest the suspect, who they announced Friday was Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah man, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed Friday.

The rifle that federal investigators believe was used in the shooting contained ammunition inscribed with anti-fascist messaging, shedding light on the suspect's motive. One used casing and three unused casings contained the writings, Cox said.

FBI Director Kash Patel laid out the timeline of the investigation Friday, saying it took the FBI and Utah law enforcement 33 hours to make an arrest. Patel said authorities made "historic progress" in such a short duration of time.

Cox on Friday called the shooting a "political assassination."

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The Enhanced Games, an upcoming Olympic-styled sporting event that does not include drug testing, filed an $800 million lawsuit against World Aquatics, USA Swimming and the World Anti-Doping Agency, claiming they are forcing athletes to boycott the event.

The lawsuit cites a by-law made by World Aquatics back in June, when they announced that swimmers and officials who competed in or supported the event would be barred from the sport.

"Those who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events," its president Husain al-Musallam said in a statement at the time.

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"The purpose of this By-law is to support the values of the Olympic Movement, including the commitment to the World Anti-Doping Code, and to protect the integrity and the image of Aquatic sports, and the health, safety and well-being of Aquatics Athletes," the by-law reads. "It complements the separate and independent obligation that is owed by those who are subject to the Rules and Regulations not to do anything that brings Aquatic sports into disrepute."

"World Aquatics' By-Law 10 is a thinly veiled attempt to strong-arm the swimming community into boycotting the Enhanced Games. They're holding elite swimmers and support staff hostage, threatening lifetime bans from Olympic events – all without a single anti-doping violation," Enhanced Games founder Dr. Aron D'Souza said in a statement. 

WORLD BOXING TO HAVE MANDATORY SEX TESTING TO KEEP MALES OUT OF WOMEN'S COMPETITIONS

"To claim this is about protecting the 'integrity' or 'health and safety' of athletes is utter hypocrisy. The widespread, unchecked use of performance-enhancing substances in their own events is an open secret, and it's well-documented that they tolerate state-sponsored doping when it serves their financial interests. The audacity of World Aquatics to invoke 'integrity' while under investigation by Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice for their complicity in the 2021 Chinese swim team doping cover-up is truly astounding. This isn't about fair play; it's about a decades-old monopoly desperately trying to crush competition and treat athletes like indentured servants rather than the dedicated professionals they are."

D'Souza has been critical of the Olympics and sport governing bodies in the past, calling them hypocritical when it came to natural sport and athletes' health.

"For the people who say this is unsafe or unhealthy, I’d tell them that the two longest-serving sponsors of the Olympics are Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, the two organizations that have done the most damage to health in human history. There’s actually no doubt about that," D'Souza said in a 2024 interview with Fox News Digital.

"Fast food and fake sugar have done more damage to human health than anyone in human history. You can read the history books. The rise of McDonald’s and the rise of Coca-Cola have been very much attached to the Olympic movement. So, when the IOC and its cronies want to lecture me about safety, I point to their own history."

The Enhanced Games are set to take place next May in Las Vegas. Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen, of Australia, is set to compete, where rewards of up to $1 million are being offered.

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Prominent Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg addressed his recent comments about the fairness of letting biological males compete in women's and girls' sports. 

After Buttigieg said "there are serious fairness issues" on the topic of letting trans athletes compete with females, during an interview with NPR in July, the Democrat spoke about the subject again during a Substack Live interview with Aaron Parnas. The Democrat suggested that parents who oppose allowing males to compete with girls must be heard. 

"I think in order to bring people together on this, we also have to take everyone seriously ,including parents who have questions," Buttigieg said. 

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"People who have questions or wonder what this means ... they’re going to have questions about how to make sure that’s fair, and we should take those questions seriously and face those together." 

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor also said he believes that the issue is "being used to hurt" people as a political topic, and he doubled-down on the stance that policies surrounding trans athletes in women's sports shouldn't be made by politicians. 

"I see this issue being used to divide. I see it being used to hurt people," he said. "It's especially hurtful for trans people and people with transgender members of their family who witness themselves or people they love being used as a political football."

Buttigieg's original quotes on NPR in July prompted questions and criticisms by some liberals and pro-trans activists, as the issue continues to divide the Democratic Party.

Buttigieg has joined several other prominent Democrats and media pundits who have spoken out against allowing males to compete with females, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; and HBO host Bill Maher. 

An April report by The New York Times claims that Biden did not agree with trans athletes participating in women's and girls' sports.

HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE

"According to a number of former Biden-administration officials, there remained a simmering debate inside the administration about whether those Title IX protections should extend to sports," the Times reported,. "One side … maintained that there was no legal difference between letting trans students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity and letting trans student athletes play on sports teams that align with their gender identity."

However, Biden was "on the other side … who believed that the competitive, zero-sum nature of sports made them different from bathrooms — that some transgender athletes would enjoy unfair physical advantages over women. Most important, one of the officials holding this view was Biden himself." 

A New York Times/Ipsos survey found that the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports.

"Thinking about transgender female athletes — meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female — do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports?" the survey asked. 

Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. 

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. 

Other data suggests the issue affected the outcome of the 2024 election. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. 

And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important." 

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President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order reestablishing the Presidential Fitness Test and the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition for American schoolchildren.

The origins of the Presidential Fitness Test date back to the 1950s under President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration. Eisenhower established the President’s Council on Youth Fitness in 1956 as Americans feared their physical strength was subpar compared to that of Europeans.

President John F. Kennedy built upon that idea in 1960 when he published a column in Sports Illustrated before he took office. The title of the piece was called "The Soft American." In the piece, Kennedy lamented that there were an "an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies—whose physical fitness is not what it should be—who are getting soft. And such softness on the part of individual citizens can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation."

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"For the physical vigor of our citizens is one of America's most precious resources. If we waste and neglect this resource, if we allow it to dwindle and grow soft then we will destroy much of our ability to meet the great and vital challenges which confront our people. We will be unable to realize our full potential as a nation," he added.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration formalized the Physical Fitness Award Program. Children were put to the test and had to perform situps, pullups or pushups and a sit-and-reach test. The program acknowledge those who were in the 85th percentile or better.

A 1-mile run and shuttle run were also added over the years as presidents after Johnson would tinker with the testing.

Over the years, the Presidential Fitness Test faced criticism for a one-size fits all approach and failing to account for individual strength and physical makeup.

The Presidential Fitness Test lasted through the 2012-13 school year when President Barack Obama retired it in favor of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. The Presidential Fitness Test was replaced by the FitnessGram, which took a holistic approach to student wellness.

The program moved away from "recognizing athletic performance to providing a barometer on student’s health," according to a profile on the Health.gov website.

"The Presidential Youth Fitness Program places emphasis on the value of living a physically active and healthy lifestyle — in school and beyond. The program minimizes comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health. By adopting the program, schools gain access to a robust selection of resources to promote lifelong physical activity — web-based access to test protocol, standards for testing, calculators for aerobic capacity and body composition, promotion of PALA+, online training, school recognition programs, and more."

On Thursday, Trump ordered the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition to execute on ways to alleviate the obesity crisis among children in the U.S. LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau was tapped to lead the council.

TRUMP FEARS LOOM OVER COMMANDERS EXECS OVER REDSKINS NICKNAME PRESSURE AS STADIUM VOTE NEARS: REPORT

The executive order said the council should recommend the following:

The executive order will direct the council to create "school-based programs that reward excellence in physical education and develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award."

"It’s a wonderful tradition and we’re bringing it back," Trump said. 

DeChambeau is the chair of the council. Trump mentioned San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will also be on the council.

"We have an opportunity at being the 70th anniversary of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, to literally change the fabric of kids’ lives," DeChambeau said. "Our first initiative is to bring back and reignite the president’s fitness test and also reestablish some key guidelines on building communities."

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Prominent Democrat and former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg weighed in on the debate about transgender athletes competing in women's sports. 

During an interview with NPR, Buttigieg acknowledged "fairness issues" in the debate. 

"Around sports, … I think most reasonable people would recognize that there are serious fairness issues if you just treat this as not mattering when a trans athlete wants to compete in women’s sports," Buttigieg said. 

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The Democrat then agreed that parents who have complained about trans athletes competing against their daughters "have a case." However, Buttigieg also argued that politicians shouldn't be dictating policy to determine whether males can compete in women's and girls sports. 

"And that’s why I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians … in Washington trying to use this as a political pawn," Buttigieg said.

HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE

"Chess is different from weightlifting, and weightlifting is different from volleyball and middle school is different from the Olympics. So, that’s exactly why I think that we shouldn’t be grandstanding on this as politicians. We should be empowering communities and organizations and schools to make the right decisions."

Democrats, including former President Joe Biden, have advocated for policy changes that would allow trans athletes to compete in women's and girls sports. Biden passed an executive order on his first day in office in January 2021 that said "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports." 

Democrats in Congress also tried to pass the Transgender Bill of Rights and the Equality Act, both of which would have allowed trans athletes to compete in girls and women's sports. 

President Donald Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order Feb. 5, and 27 states have passed their own laws to ensure similar restrictions. 

Buttigieg joins several other prominent Democrats and media pundits who have spoken out against allowing males to compete with females, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; and HBO host Bill Maher. 

An April report by The New York Times claims that Biden did not agree with trans athletes participating in women's and girls sports.

"According to a number of former Biden-administration officials, there remained a simmering debate inside the administration about whether those Title IX protections should extend to sports," the Times reported,. "One side …maintained that there was no legal difference between letting trans students use bathrooms that align with their gender identity and letting trans student athletes play on sports teams that align with their gender identity."

However, Biden was "on the other side … who believed that the competitive, zero-sum nature of sports made them different from bathrooms — that some transgender athletes would enjoy unfair physical advantages over women. Most important, one of the officials holding this view was Biden himself." 

A New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports.

"Thinking about transgender female athletes — meaning athletes who were male at birth but who currently identify as female — do you think they should or should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports?" the survey asked. 

Of the 2,128 people who participated, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. 

Of the 1,025 people who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat, 67% said transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. 

Other data suggests the issue affected the outcome of the 2024 election. 

A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America (CWA) legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. 

And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important." 

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