Leaked Footage Exposes Top Med Org’s Support For Trans Procedures On Kids: ‘I’m Not An Expert At All’

The president of a major medical organization made wild claims about the benefits of transgender procedures on kids during a conversation with a Michigan lawmaker before falling back on so-called “experts,” according to video footage published by the Ben Shapiro Show on Tuesday. 

During a video call earlier this year, American Medical Association (AMA) President Bobby Mukkamala defended his organization’s support for transgender procedures on kids by saying they relied on what “experts” had told them. Mukkamala also claimed that puberty blockers were reversible and cited other questionable statistics about transgender regret and suicide rates. 

Mukkamala made the comments during a call with Michigan Rep. Brad Paquette and Dr. Eithan Haim, the doctor who exposed Texas Children’s Hospital for doing transgender procedures on kids.  When pressed on the American Medical Association’s advocacy for transgender procedures on kids, Mukkamala said that the association effectively rubberstamps whatever “the experts” tell them. 

“Neither one of us spent an hour working on transgender care, neither one of us,” Mukkamala told Haim in the footage obtained by Shapiro. “So we have no business discussing the science that’s brought to the American Medical Association from people that spent years in training for this, and years taking care of patients for this.”

The call was arranged by Paquette, a Republican who represents the southwest corner of Michigan, who was looking to discuss the AMA’s endorsement of transgender procedures on kids. Paquette supports shielding kids from transgender procedures and introduced a bill in May that would have banned them in Michigan.

The American Medical Association is the largest association of medical professionals in the United States and plays a powerful role in medical education, ethics, and advocacy.

“This footage is pretty catastrophic for the AMA,” Shapiro said. “It proves beyond any doubt that their support for trans ‘healthcare’ is based on fake science, willful blindness, and a total abandonment of all evidence-based medicine — all of which are supposed to be antithetical to the existence of their organization, a violation of the Hippocratic Oath.”

Throughout the call, Haim pressed Mukkamala to provide evidence that transgender procedures don’t have damaging long-term impacts on kids. When he brought up the flawed studies frequently cited by WPATH and other proponents of transgender procedures, Mukkamala said that he relied on the interpretations of others and didn’t look at them himself.

“I don’t look at them. I rely on a specialty society to look at them and then give us their opinion of them. I’m not an expert at all. And honestly, I don’t think you are either,” he said. “I’m not an expert at all. I’m not an expert at all in the science that you’re talking to me about. I defer to the experts.”

At one point, Mukkamala clearly mocks Haim for even asking questions about the issue.

EXCLUSIVE: Secretly recorded call with American Medical Association President, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, reveals an alarming abdication of responsibility on “gender-affirming care” at the highest level of medicine.

Confronted with ‘puberty blocker’ side effects, Dr. Bobby evades: pic.twitter.com/PCqHqNpjts

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 26, 2025

Commenting on Mukkamala’s repeated claims that he was not an expert,  Shapiro said that he should at least be aware of the ethical issues surrounding transgender medicine.

“And sure, he’s not an expert in endocrinology or plastic surgery,” Shapiro said. “But as the President of the AMA, he’s meant to be an expert in the AMA’s code of ethics, and at the bare minimum, the Hippocratic Oath.”

Mukkamala also claimed during the call that puberty blockers were reversible. Studies have shown that puberty blockers can cause permanent damage to fertility and loss of bone density, especially in the hips and spine. 

3/ CLAIM: The AMA’s Dr. Bobby asserts that so-called “puberty blockers” are “reversible,” dismissing Dr. Haim’s attempts to correct him—despite Dr. Haim having worked with patients who need puberty blockers for actual endocrine disorders and being well versed in their harms. pic.twitter.com/nHYvgnBiQr

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 26, 2025

He also suggested that between 50-70% of transgender individuals commit suicide and that only 2% of those who have medical transgender procedures regret those procedures. Both numbers are suspect, as even the most extreme studies only say that up to 40% of transgender identifying people have attempted suicide. 

5/ CLAIM: Dr. Bobby insists there is only a 2% regret rate among those who medically ‘transition,’ and cites his source as the doctors who perform the transing of the kids. An unbiased group if ever there was one… pic.twitter.com/kLDFzHAByd

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 26, 2025

The 2% regret rate comes from a study that only measured after surgery, not the tens of thousands of kids who have been placed on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. It also did not measure regret past two years after the initial surgery. 

After Paquette told Mukkamala that he was upset by what he was hearing about kids being pushed to transition, he said that “the way to not be distraught is to talk to experts.”

Mukkamala also appeared to claim that sex change surgeries were not happening on kids in Michigan. This conflicts with data compiled by Do No Harm that shows that there have been at least 186 kids who have undergone a transgender surgery in Michigan. 

The American Medical Association has been a staunch defender of transgender procedures on kids for years. In April 2021, the organization sent a letter to governors across the country urging them not to protect kids from transgender procedures. 

“Empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression,” the organization wrote. “It is imperative that transgender minors be given the opportunity to explore their gender identity under the safe and supportive care of a physician.”

Then, in a 2022 speech, then-American Medical Association President Jack Resneck Jr. claimed that opposition to transgender procedures on kids was driven by “misinformation.” 

“Drivers of disinformation say that gender-affirming care clinics are performing genital mutilation surgeries on teens, not involving families in care decisions, or using medical treatments on young children who show up after wondering for one day if they are trans,” he said.

Advocates of radical gender ideology will frequently cite organizations like the American Medical Association for reasons why the procedures should remain legal. Over two dozen states have acted in the last few years to ban transgender surgeries on minors.

WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION: