Amid the Trump administration’s bold moves to slash wasteful spending and end cruel taxpayer funded animal testing practices, a major roadblock has emerged inside the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Nicole Kleinstreuer, an Obama-era bureaucrat with a track record of anti-Trump activism, donations to left-wing groups like ActBlue, and admiration for former NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, now holds a top post at NIH under the new Trump administration. Kleinstreuer, curiously appointed Acting Deputy Director of Trump’s NIH by Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya shortly after his confirmation, is perpetuating taxpayer-funded animal torture around the world, misleading the public about animal testing phase-outs, and shielding Fauci’s legacy labs.
Trump’s Bold NIH Budget Slash
President Trump’s 2026 budget proposes $27 billion for NIH research, reflecting a $17.9 billion cut from 2025. As stated in the official request, “The Budget proposes to reform NIH and focus NIH research activities in line with the President’s commitment to MAHA, including consolidating multiple overlapping and ill-focused programs into five new focus areas with associated spending reforms.”
An attachment to a May 2025 letter to Congress from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought outlining the 2026 budget reads, “While evidence of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic leaking from a laboratory is now confirmed by several intelligence agencies, the NIH’s inability to prove that its grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were not complicit in such a possible leak, or get data and hold recipients of Federal funding accountable is evidence that NIH has grown too big and unfocused.”
Its clear that the 40 percent NIH budget cut proposed by Trump and Vought is a response to Dr. Fauci’s reckless funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan that was first uncovered by the non-profit watchdog White Coat Waste in April 2020.
Fauci’s Animal Testing Persists Under New Leadership
Even with Trump’s proposed cuts looming, the NIH under Bhattacharya and Kleinstreuer has doubled down on Fauci’s playbook, renewing multi-million-dollar animal testing grants approved by Fauci and awarding well over $100 million in new funding for deadly experiments on dogs, cats, and primates. Since Kleinstreuer’s April 10, 2025, promotion to Acting NIH Deputy Director and “animal testing czar,” exposés by White Coat Waste reveal ongoing atrocities: primates infected with Ebola and HIV-like virues, beagles force-fed drugs and covered in mutant ticks, kittens given heart failure, and animals subjected to other painful and deadly procedures at universities, pharma firms, and contractors funded by US tax dollars. This continued funding flouts the Trump administration’s request for NIH spending cuts, keeping billions in taxpayers’ money flowing to ineffective and outdated animal testing labs in both the US, and hundreds of unaccountable animal labs in China and other foreign countries.
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Kleinsteuer Lies Like The Left
In a July 10, 2025 NIH video that came soon after criticism from Laura Loomer, White Coat Waste and Congressional Republicans, Bhattacharya and Kleinstreuer asserted that dog and cat testing problems “predate” them, citing unspecified “legal constraints” to cutting grants and claiming to work “tirelessly” on a phase-out.
However, the White Coat Waste Project has documented millions in new dog studies approved since Bhattacharya and Kleinstreuer’s appointment, plus millions more for cat and primate tests, with exposures revealing, “Following WCW pressure, @NIHDirector_Jay & @NKleinstreuer claim to be ‘working tirelessly’ to ‘phase out’ dog & cat labs & that the problem ‘predates’ them… They’re lying. We’ve exposed how NIH is funding millions in BRAND NEW dog & cat labs on their watch.”
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Their excuses crumble under scrutiny, as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has already slashed millions in NIH grants for wasteful animal experiments uncovered by White Coat Waste—like funding for making lab animals transgender through surgeries and hormones—proving rapid cuts are possible across agencies. Earlier progress under DOGE mostly halted once Jay and Nicole assumed control.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also committed to cutting Department of Defense dog and cat testing contracts to ensure compliance with President Trump’s directives, following White Coat Waste’s exposure of $57 million in DOD contracts involving cruel experiments on pets around the world, mostly funded by the U.S. Army. In Senate testimony, Hegseth highlighted a $10 million DOD contract for grotesque cat constipation experiments, stating, “marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars,” which was subsequently canceled after WCW’s investigation. Trump’s Navy Secretary John Phelan also banned all dog and cat testing following WCW’s efforts, with Congress voting to defund all painful Pentagon pet experiments in the US, China, and elsewhere.
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Kleinstreuer’s strong record of openly resisting rapid elimination of NIH animal labs includes telling NPR in June 2025, “We have no intention of just phasing out animal studies overnight. We know that animal studies are still very important and often scientifically justified.” Facing backlash from the White Coat Waste Project, Kleinstreuer claimed on X on June 25, 2025, that the quote was “widely and willfully misconstrued,” but then immediately reiterated, “We cannot phase out animal tests overnight… Without better science, animal tests unfortunately continue.”
Deep-Rooted Democrat Ties
Kleinstreuer clearly is not aligned with the Trump agenda, and it should come as no surprise. Her career spans key Democrat administrations, first working at the Obama EPA from 2009 to 2013, then as an NIH contractor from 2014 to 2016, and directly in a mid-level position at NIH since 2016.
Federal Election Commission records show Kleinstreuer has remained loyal to the Democrats for first hiring her into government as she has consistently donated to ActBlue and MoveOn since 2016 and through the last election
Anti-Trump Social Media Trail
Kleinstreuer’s social media history reveals strong opposition to President Trump, including a March 26, 2018, post praising former Obama EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and linking to an op-ed titled “Scott Pruitt’s Attack on Science Would Paralyze the E.P.A.” She wrote, “From the former EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy (under whose leadership I was proud to serve for a short time).” She posted this while working in the first Trump administration.
On June 16, 2020, also while working in the Trump administration, she shared a post calling President Donald Trump incompetent. : “2 died of Ebola: They said Obama should resign. 4 died in Benghazi: They had Hillary testify for 11 hours, held 33 hearings, and launched a multiyear probe. 118,741 died thanks to Trump’s incompetence: They cheered him in the Rose Garden. #TrumpPressConference.”
Other posts include her April 1, 2020 criticism of Trump’s medical supply handling as “That is outrageous,” On March 31, 2020, she shared a post supporting Elizabeth Warren for president with the text that “She’s actually looking out for her constituents and the American ppl,” and on February 26, 2020 she shared a post stating, “She’s electable if you fucking vote for her.”
Pro-Fauci Advocacy Exposed
Kleinstreuer has also expressed admiration for Fauci for years.
On October 1, 2020, while the pandemic Fauci likely helped cause ravaged the country, she congratulated Fauci on his federal award by reposting, “Congratulations to #NIH #NIAIDNews director Anthony Fauci on winning the 2020 Federal Employee of the Year award! #Sammies2020.”
OnApril 12, 2022, she reposted two items praising Fauci’s speaking event at the National Academies.
Kleinstreuer’s Appointment is a Kennedy Oversight Fail
Kleinstreuer loves Dr. Fauci and hates Donald Trump. Why did she get a promotion in Trump’s NIH, which is overeen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?
As a vocal opponent of NIH animal testing, Kennedy has long backed the White Coat Waste Project’s fight against Fauci’s dog labs. Kennedy posted about taxpayer-funded dog cruelty exposed by White Coat in a December 10, 2022, post: “A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. lawmakers are demanding answers from Dr. Anthony Fauci about taxpayer-backed ‘outdated, unnecessary, and cruel’ medical experiments on dogs.”
Earlier, on May 26, 2022, Kennedy highlighted other abuses,noting, “A division of NIH run by Dr. Anthony Fauci allocated $1,836,453 in taxpayer dollars to test an experimental hay fever drug on dogs, rats and mice, according to documents released Monday by the White Coat Waste Project.” This testing was cancelled by Fauci after pressure from White Coat and Republicans in Congress.
Yet under RFK Jr.’s oversight, the NIH, led by Kleinstreuer and Bhattacharya, continues Fauci’s abusive animal testing practices, defying President Donald Trump. Despite WCW pressure forcing Kleinstreuer and Bhattacharya to abruptly announce a commitment to “phase-out” dog and cat testing, the agency has stalled with months of excuses, delays, and defenses of animal labs, has continued to fund new ones, and has yet to commit to any specific reforms or cuts.
Under Kennedy, officials at NIH and FDA have also been trying to cancel White Coat Waste for criticizing Kleinstreuer and Bhattacharya, which is exactly what the former NIH leadership tried to do to White Coat for exposing Fauci’s gain of function in China and beagle testing.
Why is RFK Jr letting deep state NIH bureaucrats bully a non-profit watchdog he claims to support and undermine President Trump’s plan to drastically reform the NIH?
Unelected bureaucrats like Kleinstreuer exemplify the insidious deep state sabotage undermining President Trump’s America First agenda. By clinging to outdated, cruel, and dangerous animal testing practices and resisting reforms, these entrenched officials not only waste billions in taxpayer dollars but also betray the public’s trust, prioritizing personal ideologies over national priorities. It’s time to root them out decisively, before they paralyze the progress Trump promised.
