Quick Fact: Which Obama admin official is Hannity falsely claiming “supports forced sterilizations”?

Written by Greg Lewis

Published

Sean Hannity falsely claimed that Obama has “got” a “guy” in his administration “that supports forced sterilizations.” Hannity did not specify which “guy” he was referring to, but has previously leveled this charge at director of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Cass Sunstein and White House science and technology adviser John Holdren.

From the November 24 broadcast of Fox News' Hannity:

DON IMUS: I think seizing on the fact that he hung out with Bill Ayers is -- come on, who cares?

HANNITY: Look. He has an energy secretary, Don, that wants every roof in America painted white. Every pavement right down there in, you know, in New York, they'll paint every pavement in the country white. He's got another guy that supports forced sterilizations.

IMUS: Well that's trouble.

HANNTIY: He's got another guy that wants to ban hunting and give animals lawyers, that he's appointed.

Fact: Contrary to Hannity's prior claims, Holdren did not “support forced sterilization”

Hannity has repeatedly asserted that Holdren supported “forced sterilization.” After Fox News' Glenn Beck offered a similar allegation based on an environmental sciences book Holdren co-authored more than 30 years ago, PolitiFact concluded that “the text of the book clearly does not support that. We think a thorough reading shows that these were ideas presented as approaches that had been discussed. They were not posed as suggestions or proposals. In fact, the authors make clear that they did not support coercive means of population control. Certainly, nowhere in the book do the authors advocate for forced abortions.”

Fact: Hannity previously offered no evidence in claiming Sunstein “wants to... force sterilizations.”

As Media Matters for America documented, on his November 23 show, Hannity baselessly claimed Sunstein “wants to... force sterilizations,” citing no evidence whatsoever.