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January 28, 2025

Press Secretary Leavitt falsely claims US sent $50 million for "Gaza condoms"

CivicSense
Rolling Stone
today.lorientlejour.com
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+13

Demonstrably false claims made during inaugural press briefing appearance

Karoline Leavitt claimed on Jan. 28, 2025 that $50 million was ā€œabout to go out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,ā€ a figure PolitiFact, Reuters and the Washington Post found unsupported (PolitiFact; Reuters; Washington Post).

USAIDā€™s fiscal year 2023 data shows $8 million spent globally on condoms, and at a procurement price of 5 cents each, $50 million would buy approximately 1 billion condoms for Gazaā€™s 2.1 million population (Washington Post; Al Jazeera).

The Washington Post Fact Checker awarded Leavittā€™s statement Four Pinocchios, its highest rating for falsehoods (Washington Post, Jan. 29, 2025).

šŸ¤Civic ActionšŸ›ļøGovernmentšŸ“°Media Literacy

Test Your Knowledge

10
Q1

This was Karoline Leavitt's first official press briefing as White House Press Secretary.

Q2

The International Medical Corps confirmed it was using U.S. funds to distribute condoms in Gaza.

Q3

How much money did Karoline Leavitt falsely claim was earmarked for Gaza condoms?

Q4

USAID confirmed that no condoms were sent to the Middle East from fiscal 2021-2023.

Q5

Multiple fact-checking organizations found evidence supporting Leavitt's $50 million claim.

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People, bills, and sources

Karoline Leavitt

White House press secretary

Elon Musk

Elon Musk

Tech entrepreneur and X owner

What you can do

1

Review the official Jan. 28, 2025 White House press briefing transcript at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/ to verify Karoline Leavittā€™s exact wording on Gaza condom funding.

2

Examine PolitiFactā€™s detailed fact-check at https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/30/karoline-leavitt/no-the-us-did-not-spend-50-million-to-fund-condoms/ for source documents and evidence rebutting the $50 million claim.

3

Use the USAID Data Explorer (https://explorer.usaid.gov/) to retrieve fiscal year 2023 spending records, confirming the $8 million global condom budget and zero condom shipments to the Middle East from FY 2021ā€“2023.