Who qualifies as a criminal in President Joe Biden’s Justice Department? Pro-life activists, of course, as well as anyone remotely tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. And now we can add to that list concerned doctors who speak out against invasive gender treatments being performed on minors.
Last week, Biden’s DOJ unsealed its indictment of Dr. Ethan Haim, a whistleblower who accused the Texas Children’s Hospital of administering hormonal treatments to hundreds of gender-confused children despite publicly pledging not to. Haim revealed that these treatments continued long after the Texas Children’s Hospital “shut down” its gender clinic. In other words, the hospital sought to avoid scrutiny from state officials by distancing itself from the controversial program while continuing to operate it in secret.
The Justice Department responded to Haim’s testimony by slapping him with four felony charges. The indictment alleges Haim “obtained unauthorized individually identifiable health HIPAA protected information on pediatric patients” and “caused malicious harm to TCH, pediatric patients at TCH, and its physicians by contacting a media contact.” He faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
But according to Haim and his lawyers, he never revealed the personal information of patients. Independent journalist Christopher Rufo, with whom Haim shared the relevant documents, confirmed as much, saying the documents had been “carefully redacted” by Haim.
Biden’s DOJ doesn’t care — its aim isn’t to win in court, but to send a message that dissent from its ideological agenda will not be tolerated.
That message was sent loud and clear again this week when two federal agents reportedly showed up on the doorstep of a second whistleblower who expanded on Haim’s report. The Texas Children’s Hospital wasn’t just operating its gender clinic in secret, but was actively committing fraud in order to do so, Vanessa Sivadge, a nurse at the hospital, alleged.
If the FBI’s daytime visit to Sivadge’s home this week is any indication, she’ll be getting her own indictment soon.
This is part of a jarring pattern of behavior with this administration in which the law is deliberately stretched and distorted to justify the egregious prosecution of its political opponents. Again, it does not matter to this Justice Department whether its charges actually hold up. Far more important in this strategy is the pain of the lawfare itself.
Pro-life activist Mark Houck, for example, was found not guilty last year after Biden’s DOJ charged him with alleged violations of the FACE Act — but only after he was raided by the FBI, thrown in jail, and forced to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees.
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Haim deserves vindication as well — but it’s going to cost him. Indeed, the point of the DOJ’s prosecution is to make resistance so costly that people will be deterred from acting out against the administration’s agenda in the first place.
Haim sees right through this strategy and is determined to fight the DOJ’s case to whatever end. Without courage like his, the DOJ’s plan would likely succeed unabated. But perhaps because of that courage, more people will see this administration for what it is — corrupt — and for what it wants to be — totalitarian.