A "Big Win" For Women's Sports
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Thursday, July 3rd, 2025. I'm Jessica Rosenthal. One university says transgender athletes will no longer compete in women's sports. But will such a policy shift hold or will it depend on the politics of the day? It is worrisome to see, you know, what could happen in the next administration. There is no official federal law passed on this. I'm retired Staff Sergeant Joey Jones.

Often stigmatized in the media and at the center of political debates, the Border Patrol and the great Americans who work for them say the humanitarian aspect of their job is just often overlooked. It is probably...

a more diverse range of skill sets that you have to have as being a Border Patrol agent. And we are the first ones who protect this great nation from any potential threats. And I'm David Bonson. I've got the final word on the Fox News Rundown. ♪

The University of Pennsylvania has been at the heart of this debate over transgender athletes since Leah Thomas won the NCAA Division I championship in the 500-yard freestyle three years ago. Now the Department of Education says after an investigation, the university's agreed to keep transgender athletes out of women's sports, restore titles to the women who came in second, use biological-based definitions of man and woman moving forward, and issue apologies to affected female athletes.

We've signed an agreement with them and we hope that that agreement is going to be a template for other universities who acknowledge that there is no room for men and women's sports not only during the competition but also in the locker room.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox's Laura Ingram it was important also for women's abilities to get scholarships and awards. They have to be able to enter into these sports and to feel safe. I mean, Peyton McNabb got a volleyball smashed against her face, broke her nose, and she had brain injury from it. Penn's president, J. Larry Jamison, wrote a letter saying they're updating their policies to comply with federal executive orders and updated NCAA rules, noting they believe they were operating in accordance with

Title IX, as it was interpreted then, the federal civil rights law, Title IX protects anyone at an educational institution against sex discrimination. Now, under the Biden administration, Title IX was expanded. So protections included gender identity, but this was not applied to sports.

The NCAA policy left things up to individual schools based on the sport and said transgender athletes could compete in certain events after a year of testosterone suppression. But after President Trump signed an order this past February titled Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports, the NCAA changed policy. And the Department of Education threatened certain funding to schools that didn't comply, announcing investigations into San Jose State, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn was threatened with a loss of $175 million in federal support. I first felt, you know, there's a lot of different emotions, I think is the best way to describe it. Paula Scanlon swam on the same team at Penn with Leah Thomas. She's now a senior fellow at the American Principals Project. It's

It's definitely a big win to see the Trump administration hold the University of Pennsylvania accountable. And I think it really shows how strong they are as leaders. And that was my biggest takeaway, is that they are delivering on their promises and they are able to get things done and, again, make change in this country and force these institutions to start the process of making change.

Tell us about what this was about and your involvement. This was because Leah Thomas won the NCAA Division I Championship in the 500-yard freestyle back in 2022, I think. Remind us of that time. You know, what happened after that and how you felt and how you felt treated by the university back then?

Yeah, so Leah Thomas obviously won the NCAA championship in the 500 yard freestyle. But there was so much more that happened before that even. Before that even happened, he was put on our team. He was previously a member of the men's team. And the university said he wants to be a woman, therefore he can join the women's team. And he was undressing in our locker room 18 times per week.

competing alongside us going to meet and when we tried to raise our concerns to the athletic department they told us that him being on the team was a non-negotiable they said if we ever spoke out against him being on the team that we would regret it we would spend the rest of our lives tainted by it they said that

Anyone who wants to hire you will look you up and see what you've said about this, and they will know that you are a transphobic bigot and they will never want to hire you. And another thing that they told us was they said if you're uncomfortable in dressing in a locker room with this six foot four tall, fully grown man, it's equivalent to not wanting to address with somebody based on the race in the 1960s. So they tried to, again, tell us we were racist for not wanting to address with a man. And the last thing that they told us was if we objected to everything that they said so far,

You are the problem. You need help. And they gave us the number for an on-campus psychological counselor. And they said, please go make an appointment because you need therapy. And so that was really what was going on the entire season. And, of course, you know, it's a man competing in women's swimming. What do you expect? He went on and won an NCAA championship, beating out Olympians in the event he ended up winning, which, again, I think just shows how ridiculous this really was.

Riley Gaines was on with Harris Faulkner Wednesday, and she said one of the things she felt was surprise. Given everything you just said, that the University of Pennsylvania was willing to restore titles, issue apologies. After all that, do you feel that way? Do you feel a little bit of surprise that three years later, this is the about face? Or is it just, look, this was the situation the Trump administration came in, and so this is what we were faced with losing grant money, like we had no choice?

You know, I was a little bit surprised, and it wasn't even just because of my negative experience at University of Pennsylvania, where they showed no signs of even acknowledging that my viewpoint was even valid in any way, shape, or form. But the reason I was so surprised was because of seeing Harvard having the opposite reaction. So really what we're looking at right now is you sort of have the tale of two Ivy League schools that are going at it with the Trump administration. We have Harvard, who's doubling down on their stance on all the different things the Trump administration has started to investigate them on.

But the University of Pennsylvania did the exact opposite. They came in, they bent the knee, as they say, and they said, you know, actually, we're going to work with you here. We do fear you as an administration, and we are going to make change. And a lot of people can say it's in response to the negotiation table, but...

Ultimately, I think that the Trump administration is doing the right thing here. And I hope to see more schools come in and say, actually, yeah, I want to discuss this. I want my funding back up. Maybe I will make these changes. You know, the University of Pennsylvania, as you know, is saying in response to this that while they are shifting here, that they always complied with Title IX. I understand you have a thought about them insisting that they've always been in compliance. Yes.

You know, I saw that as well. Yes, sure, maybe they were in compliance with the NCAA policy, but my question to that is, when did we decide that the word woman meant something different? Because as far as I'm concerned, Title IX has always been clear. It should be clear to anyone who really has brain cells in this country. But for some reason, we're saying, oh, well, you know, last year, the word woman and female meant something different than it does now with Trump being president. I mean, that is what we're dealing with here. And I don't know.

I don't care who was president. I don't care what terrible ideas the Biden administration was trying to put in at the time. Title IX to me was very clear. And no matter how you spin it, the University of Pennsylvania directly violated that by allowing Leah Thomas on our team. Well, and the University of Pennsylvania said they complied with Title IX as interpreted then. Just for people who are a little bit confused about all of this, while the NCAA sort of left...

transgender sports policy up to individual schools before they went ahead and changed their policy this year. The Biden administration had expanded Title IX, but notably did not address transgender athletes in sports. Were you all confused as this was unfolding? How should this be handled?

You know, the thing that's interesting is the Biden administration did have a lot of literature that they wanted to write about these transgender athletes. But I think that they started to realize how wildly unpopular it was. I mean, this issue, I mean, there's many things we can look at to why Trump won the presidency this past November. But this issue is a huge one. And in fact, even people who voted for Kamala Harris, and I'm

probably voted for Joe Biden as well. They agree with us on this issue. And so I think we're in a little bit of a situation where the Democrats are realizing that this maybe doesn't quite match their voter base. So they're trying to pretend either they never did it. I mean, after the election, we saw a couple of, you know, lower level House representatives or people at the state level pretending like they never said that or changing their viewpoint even on the whole women's sports issue. So I

I think it just shows that this really is an issue of common sense and not left versus right.

Yeah. What do you think this means for future girl athletes in that vein? Like, because these are based on President Trump's executive orders, right? NCAA changed its policy after the president signed this executive order titled, you know, keeping men out of women's sports. Do you think that the future for girls is is bright here or that all of this falls away with a different type of administration? It's not like Congress passed a law here. How solid is this?

Yeah, you know, that's exactly the thing that kept me up last night worrying about, to be honest with you. It is worrisome to see, you know, what could happen in the next administration. You're right, there is no official federal law passed on this. But what I will say is I think that this shows, at least in some way, the fact that the University of Pennsylvania was able to come in and say and change the policy is

it does admit some type of fault. It does show that there is evidence to say that they were in the wrong. If they truly believed and stood by their stance, they would have continued to push back. They would have not gone to the negotiation table and agreed to these things. And so I think we have that as evidence. But the fact that

what I had just previously said, I think what we're really seeing is even Democrats do not agree with this. And we are hoping to continue to mobilize on that. And again, if a Democrat comes in four years from now, hopefully there are people in that voter base that I'll select as a person that are on our side. And I do know that there are because I

I really believe this is a 90-10 issue. I think 10% of the population is standing by this. The other 90%, no matter who they are, what race they are, what background they are, where they're from in this country, I mean, they agree with us. And I want to keep capitalizing on that. I think we'll keep mobilizing that. And I know that we will win, and I think this is a great first step. Finally, you know, when Simone Biles came out and trashed Riley Gaines on this issue, saying, you know, she should uplift transgender athletes or find a new avenue for them to feel safe, she said,

You're saying this is a 90/10 issue, but is there a divide? Like, have you encountered female athletes who, you know, either really want transgender athletes to compete with them or against them or in the same space as them? Like, what is the answer here for even if there aren't so many transgender athletes, for those that do want to participate in sports? If somebody were to ask you what the solution is here, what do you say?

Yeah, I mean, I think there's a pretty obvious solution here. I think if you're born male, you can be in the men's category. And if you're female, you can be in the female category. Leah Thomas, my teammate, former teammate, he was a member of the men's team for three years. He could have continued to stay on the men's team. He could have decided to grow out his hair and change his name and put on a women's suit.

All of those things could have been done. And that's, you know, his own personal decisions that I really don't care if he does. But he could have continued to compete in the men's category. And I think about that.

That's the answer here. And that's what they should be doing. And again, this is not to exclude anyone from anything at all. I think that sports have sex based categories for a reason. Women have fought so hard to have our own categories and have our ability to compete. And I think it's important and crucial, really, that we preserve that.

We know other universities are being investigated or were being investigated, like San Jose State. As this issue sort of fleshes out here, if it becomes a precedent, if other universities sort of shift policy, is that how this sticks, regardless of a law, regardless of a policy? Like if universities say,

Yeah, I definitely think so. I think we're in a position now where we have to make these changes culturally and really convince the people that this is not what they want. And I think more and more people are going to be able to do that.

More universities stepping in and making these decisions, federal law or not, will help these changes. And, you know, the University of Pennsylvania, they're still yet to issue the formal apology to the team specifically. And I'm excited to see what they have to say. I want to see how genuine it is. But I do really think this is a strong first step in getting there and showing other universities that, yes, you should bend the knee. You should...

you know, give up having men and women's sports and just seeing the response to this. I mean, I think it's been majority response to the team. I've been very, very positive and people are very excited about, about this. And, and yeah, I had even people who I had friends who were Democrats actually messaged me yesterday saying that they were excited about the news. So I think that really tells exactly where we are culturally on this. Paula Scanlon, thank you so much for joining us and giving us your insight. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me on today. ♪♪♪

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Fox News Podcasts presents Great Americans on the Fox News Rundown. I'm retired Staff Sergeant Joey Jones. Border Patrol agents have a big responsibility, protecting both our northern and southern borders. They risk their lives every day trying to stop smugglers, human traffickers, and others from coming into our country. But lost in all the debates over security and immigration policy is that these Border Patrol agents, well, they're also, they're saving lives.

After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger, Vincent Vargas returned home and joined the Border Patrol, working along the U.S.-Mexico border and becoming part of BORSTAR, Border Patrol's Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit. As part of that group, he focused on saving lives through search and rescue missions, medical interventions, and crisis response.

no matter the circumstances of why the individuals at risk cross the border. I feature Vargas in my new book, Behind the Badge, because his experience highlights the complexities of border security and immigration.

and the personal sacrifices Border Patrol officers make every day just doing their job. When you think Border Patrol, I think immediately people just think immigration, but they lose a lot of the essence of the Border Patrol when you think only that. Vincent Vargas is an Army veteran, former Border Patrol agent, host of the

host of the Borderland podcast and author of Borderline. The Border Patrol wears many hats. They're law enforcement officers. They're grief counselors. And I say that grief counselors by way of they're the first ones to respond in these events where

you know, illegal migrants are coming across and trying to gain access to America and then might not be so successful. Some might lose their lives in that effort. And it's usually us border police who are the first ones to respond to these. And we have to make a decision on which hat we wear at that moment. It is probably...

more diverse range of skill sets that you have to have as being a Border Patrol agent. And we are the first ones who protect this great nation from any potential threats. It is...

a very, very complex and important job that for some reason the media spun early on and made it look like they were the bad guys or this very like demonizing version of the Border Patrol. And so I felt it was my mission to try and help counter that. I think about what you just say and I hear that and I think it's

It's just, you know, it's passionate people hitting the easy button on stupidity. You know what I mean? It's like they're not taking the time to like actually think about what they're saying or who they're saying it to. You know, I had family members question like, why do you even do it? I don't understand it. And it's,

Some people won't ever understand it. And there will always be this divide in opinions on that. But, you know, I just stay strong and firm in what I believe in. And I wholeheartedly am content with what I did overseas and what I've done with the Border Patrol. In the military, we're trained to take out the bad guy. In law enforcement of any kind,

You kind of have to treat the bad guy as well as you would treat the guy to your left and right. I mean, they're you're there to serve and protect all Americans or all people within your jurisdiction. So you touch on that when you talk about the Border Patrol and your job there. Was that difficult? Were there times where you had to be empathetic to someone that probably didn't deserve it? Or were there times where you had to be, you know, crass with someone you felt empathy for? Tell me about that.

Yeah, in the military, I was trained, you know, our whole mission set was to kill or capture high value targets, right? And at the time, you know, my connection with faith was a little lost. It was a little challenged. And

I started trying to make myself in good terms with God. And that's how I viewed it back then. I wasn't really educated on faith and what I believe now. I'm very mature in how I think about it, very different. And so when I became a medic, it almost felt like I was trying to earn good points for the bad in combat. And it made me driven to be a medic and it made me driven to save lives.

And when you live that life in the border patrol, you really see people as just human beings. They might have been attempting to smuggle drugs across, but if they're at a point where they might lose their life from drowning,

It is my duty to jump in and save this person's life. You know, good, bad or indifferent, I'm going to do my best to save that person's life. And look, being Hispanic myself, being someone, if you've read my book, you know, my grandmother came here illegally by stealing the identity of her American citizen sister.

after she passed away, unfortunately. And there's a conflict there, but the black and white, the laws of the land, we do have immigration laws and those gentlemen, men and women who serve in those positions are asked to uphold those laws. And for some reason we forget that if we don't like those laws, there's things we can do to take steps in trying to get bills passed

so that we can fight those laws and change those laws. And that's the beauty of what America is. And, you know, I think we have a long road ahead of us because the goal for me is to continue to educate people. So I think it lands softer than what it has recently. And that's just what I do. Yeah, I don't think most people, well, most people haven't been to the border. Most people don't understand the terrain, what it's like. They certainly don't understand if they've heard that it's dangerous. They don't necessarily understand why.

And you do. I mean, that was your job was to understand why it's dangerous because it was your job to respond to it. I can imagine in doing so, you saw a lot of things that were difficult. I can tell you, I fought two wars, got blown up. The two worst days of my life were seeing two kids, different incidents get hurt in ways that were unfathomable and they certainly didn't deserve. I can imagine you've seen your share of that. How do you deal with that?

Yeah, man, that's the hardest part about the job. It wasn't long ago I was down in Eagle Pass and a father was trying to cross the river with his child on his back. And, you know, unfortunately, both lost their lives. And that image of that sticks with me.

I've done a lot of work in my life from from Iraq and Afghanistan and Post-traumatic stress and all the things of growth of a veteran to to have tools that help me But I don't think you ever get images like that out of your head You just have to you know I guess in my head is the more products the more books the more podcasts I create and explaining

the dangers of trying to cross illegally, the dangers of those who trust the cartels, who are manipulative and trying to just get money out of them. Hopefully I can explain it in a way that it saves one or two lives that just choose to do it the right way or choose to do it the legal way. These drug trafficking organizations, these cartels,

They don't think of the best interests of the people. They just want to see how they can make the most money possible. And unfortunately, some of these innocent individuals who are uneducated on the subject, they fall victim to it. And you see a lot of people losing their lives in the Rio Grande River and also some of those harsh deserts in the summers. Some of the things that I think a lot of Americans try to visualize and understand is

I think we can pretty much put the nail on the head, right? When you think about people crossing the border, in your mind you see someone dark-skinned, maybe Hispanic, coming from Mexico. A lot of times I don't think people even consider that they're going through Mexico from other countries, much less the idea that they could be coming from countries

across oceans coming through the southern border. Was that your experience? Did you experience some of that? You know, Europeans or Africans or Middle Easterners that had made that trek?

Everything you can think of, you know, in recent years, I've been down on that board for about the past five years, kind of documenting what's going on and massive influx of Chinese nationals, massive influx of individuals from Pakistan, India, you know, all these areas where you're like, man, how did they travel from China down to South America through Mexico? That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. And there's something to be said about that. Like how much money that they're willing to spend to come to America and why.

And so, you know, the tactical brain of me, the Army Ranger, you know, tactical mind is always thinking of, you know, the opposition. What's their plan? Is this a long game for them? Are they, you know, they saw an open border for 40 years. Were they using that to their advantage as a tactical advantage to influx as many troops?

as possible. Yeah, there's a possibility of that. You know, I try and sit in this center space of half ranger, half journalist, right? But to be honest, you know, I am very fearful of what's happened in those last four years of the massive influx in the

man, 120 something, 40 something different countries that we have never seen countries. Senegal, we have not seen numbers from those countries in so long that it is a concern. It's a concern of mine to think of why are they doing this? I mean, San Diego alone, I was there recently and there's hundreds of thousands of

passports and ID cards that are just ditched once they cross the border. They're hiding their identity. They don't want people to identify exactly who they are. And those are concerns. Those should be concerns of the American people. And for some reason, I think people take it very lightly and they shouldn't.

That's such a great point. I wanted to get your answer, not lead it. But it's this idea that there's kind of a duality here. It's kind of a matter of perspective. Maybe it really comes down to, hey, there are kind of left and right people in this country that just think things differently. But I think if you ask some people that question, they're going to say, it's amazing that these people are willing to risk their lives for that much of a trek just to get to America. And certainly there are those people. And then you asked other more skeptical people, and it's

Well, there's a reason why they're coming across. And I guess the truth is probably a healthy amount of both. It is. Look, I am a hopeless romantic. And yes, it is gorgeous to see people willing to risk everything for this great nation and try to come here and be American citizens. That is a gorgeous thing that shows us American people that we still have something to fight for. People still want this.

And then the other side of me goes, man, but those who are doing it because they have to do it that way, those who are doing it to be for nefarious reasons, those are the ones we've got to be nervous about. And even if it's only 1%, that's a terrifying 1% of potentially 15 million in the past four years, right? Yeah.

Something that I'm very cautious about. And I think, I think we haven't seen the repercussions of, of the last four years yet. And I, you know, there's a potential, we might see some, something, you know, just some people that we interview on our podcast, give us a heads up that, you know, there's a chance. And I'm always kind of mentally prepared for that possibility.

Brother, I appreciate you. I can't thank you enough for sharing your story, not just with us here today, but to make it your life's work to bring groups of people together that may think they have less in common than they do, to represent veterans, to represent your heritage, to represent your patriotism, and just to be a living embodiment. All those things can exist in one person in one society. It means a lot. I appreciate you, brother. You know that I'm always a text or a phone call away when I can help, and thanks for joining us.

Yes, sir. Thank you so much.

to deploying the latest AI technology. This is a new era of American innovation. Find out more at g.co slash American innovation. Put the power of over 100 meteorologists and the worldwide resources of Fox in your hands with the Fox Weather Podcast. Precise, personal, powerful. Subscribe and listen now at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to this podcast at foxnewspodcasts.com.

It's time for your Fox News Commentary. David Bonson. What's on your mind? The surprising victory of Zoran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary has sent shockwaves throughout the political punditry world. Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist with a shocking record of defending anti-Semitism, not only defeated his well-funded, high-name recognition opponent, Andrew Cuomo, he trounced him.

In what should now be a cakewalk to victory in the general election, given New York City voter registration reality, the nation's largest city will have elected the most radical, far-left, explicitly socialist candidate in American history to such a high-profile office.

Post-election commentary contains the expected narrative. Mamdani was young and energetic. Cuomo was old and boring. Mamdani spoke to what voters care about. Cuomo failed to connect. Social media is authentic. Super PACs reflect corporate corruption.

There are nuggets of truth in all of this, and whatever it means for the Democratic Party is not that important to this center-right conservative. What I believe is important is the message for the center-right in this country, especially those of us who believe in movement conservatism. This is what we will get nationally if we do not repudiate right-wing populism. Mamdani ran in promising to force chicken and rice to sell for $8 instead of $10.

He promised to make public transportation free. He wants the city to run a chain of grocery stores. He wants free universal childcare. He wants a freeze on rents going higher. He wants a $30 an hour minimum wage. He promised to raise taxes on corporations and wealthy earners in Manhattan, undertaxed as they are, apparently. It was a brutally honest campaign.

He ran a fever swamp campaign of left-wing populist delusions, and it worked.

The reason I say this is a warning for the right is not because the right is fighting these arguments and failing to prevail. It is because the modern moment of right-wing populism is essentially borrowing from these arguments, but with less magnitude and force, and finding out the hard way that state power and grotesque economic interventions will always be done with more drama by the left than the right.

Our worldview has been compromised by a school of thought that state power is a good thing, that merely having the right enemies is enough to legitimize government overreach, and that two can play at the game of messianic promises when it comes to the economy. Wage controls, price controls, and soak the rich class warfare, verifiably failed policies for reasons conservatives could historically explain, are now standard fare in the new right playbook.

They have their appeal as various constituencies in American life who believe the country is not working for them seek out popular solutions for what ails them. History's lessons on the failures of these draconian policies are irrelevant. And once the right decides their job is to outdo the left with nanny-like promises of what the government can do for the people, we are well on our way down the slippery slope.

And that slippery slope will not stop with Azor and Mamdani in the New York City mayoral mansion. It could very well end with AOC or Mamdani in the White House. I'm David Bonson, managing partner of the Bonson Group, author of full-time work in the meaning of life.

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Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com.