Congress investigates Trump team lies about tracking teen menstruation

Congress is demanding to know why a top Trump official lied about keeping a creepy database to track the menstrual cycles of teen immigrants in their custody.

On Friday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Scott Lloyd, former head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), saying his committee was “troubled” by Lloyd’s misleading testimony before the committee during a February 2018 hearing. ORR is the federal agency that oversees most unaccompanied minors.

During the hearing, members repeatedly asked Lloyd about reports he “compiled spreadsheets to track the pregnancies and menstrual cycles of young women” in ORR care. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) asked Lloyd directly if he is denying that he tracked the menstrual cycles of women in ORR custody.

Lloyd answered directly, saying, “I am denying that I tracked menstrual cycles of women in my custody.”

However, in late March, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show obtained a 28-page spreadsheet used by Lloyd and his employees at ORR to track the pregnancies and menstrual cycles of girls aged 12-17 in their custody. The spreadsheet tracked how the girls became pregnant (whether through rape or consensual sex) as well as which girls requested abortions.

But Lloyd’s misleading testimony didn’t end there. Dean also asked him if he had “personally visited pregnant minors to pressure them to continue their pregnancies.” Once again, Lloyd denied the accusation, saying, “No, that is not true.”

Nadler’s letter points out that Lloyd gave sworn testimony in a December 2017 deposition that he did, in fact, visit at least one unaccompanied minor while she was in custody. He also admitted to speaking on the phone with at least one additional pregnant unaccompanied minor “where the topic of abortion was discussed.”

Previous reporting uncovered that Lloyd regularly denied requests for abortions by young women in his custody, going so far as to telling staff that any abortion must be personally approved by him. An extreme anti-abortion zealot, his posture resulted in lawsuits filed by the ACLU after he illegally denied young women access to health care.

Lloyd joins a long list of current and former Trump officials who lied in the course of investigations.

Trump’s first National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russian contacts. Trump’s longtime attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump’s involvement in Russian business interests. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker have all misled or outright lied to Congress over the past two years.

While Trump officials seem to lie as easily as Trump himself, Lloyd holds the distinction of being the creepiest of the bunch.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.