Rep Kevin Kiley reflects on impact of California trans athlete conflict amid state's battle with Trump

Former NCAA swimmers Riley Gaines and Kylee Alons, and their attorney William Bock, told Fox News Digital that they would all support criminal prosecution against officials allowing trans athletes to play in women's and girls' sports.

California is officially in a standoff with President Donald Trump's administration in the battle to "Save Women's Sports."

The state rejected the Trump admin's proposal to comply with Title IX on Monday, and now, a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice is likely. The DOJ already launched a lawsuit against the state of Maine in April for similar defiance. 

The tension between the state and Trump heightened at the end of May, before the state's track and field championship, which saw a trans athlete take first place in two girls' events. Trump himself sent two lengthy Truth Social posts addressing the girls' track and field controversy, in warnings to Newsom. 

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Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., is well aware of the anxiety his constituents have faced amid that. Prior to the track and field championships, several other had confirmed controversial incidents involving trans athletes competing in girls' high school volleyball, basketball and cross-country. 

"We need to absolutely look at what's going on in our schools," Kiley said.

"We see in a lot of these cases, that there were influences within the school system in some cases, ultimately had an impact on the young person's thinking," he added, regarding how a male athlete could have ended up competing in girls' sports amid the wave of incidents in his state. 

Additionally, the presence of those trans athletes have pushed many of the state's female athletes to speak out or protest. Multiple