Sen. Ted Cruz has opened a probe of the Justice Department’s prosecution of a whistleblower who revealed gender-transition procedures performed on children as young as 11 at a Texas hospital.
In a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Alamdar Hamdani, Mr. Cruz raised concerns of selective prosecution and weaponization of the Justice Department against Dr. Eithan Haim.
Dr. Haim was charged with four felony counts for leaking the medical records from Texas Children’s Hospital.
Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, said the federal investigation “appears to bear the markings of a politically-driven prosecution, which has unfortunately been the stock-in-trade of the present Department of Justice.”
Dr. Haim, a transgender care whistleblower, previously worked at the hospital as part of his residency training. The indictment said that in April 2023, he requested to re-activate his login access at the hospital to get the records of pediatric patients who were not in his care.
The 34-year-old surgeon took information, including patient names and treatment codes, without authorization and shared it with a conservative activist, according to federal prosecutors.
“He allegedly obtained this information under false pretenses and with intent to cause malicious harm to TCH,” according to federal prosecutors.
He pleaded not guilty earlier this month. If found guilty he faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine.
The City Journal published a report based on Dr. Haim’s whistleblower documents in May 2023. It alleged the hospital continued the transgender procedures after it publicly said it was stopping them.
The hospital announced it would be pausing gender-changing services for minors in March 2022.
Dr. Haim revealed himself to be the whistleblower in a piece published by City Journal in January.
“I knew that it was my moral responsibility to expose what was happening to these children,” Dr. Haim wrote.
In June 2023, agents from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General showed up at the doctor’s home and interrogated him about the medical records.
In his letter, Mr. Cruz said the prosecution of Dr. Haim follows a pattern at the Justice Department. He listed other cases of people being arrested in “politically-driven prosecution,” including the arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck for violating the FACE Act, who was later acquitted. Mr. Cruz said the “severe punishment starkly contrasts with the virtual impunity” of others who have committed similar acts in support of the opposite side of the same issue.
“These glaring disparities reveal a justice system that is not merely blind but rather selectively harsh, targeting those with opposing views while allowing others to flout the law with effective impunity,” Mr. Cruz wrote.
He requested a response from Mr. Hamdani by July 11, and asked for information regarding all felony HIPAA cases indicted by the U.S. attorney’s office in Texas in the past 24 months, and if Mr. Hamdani personally approved the felony criminal charge in this case.
Mr. Cruz asked if Mr. Hamdani communicated with anyone from the DOJ outside the attorney’s office for the Southern District of Texas or outside of the DOJ before charging Dr. Haim. He also asked for an explanation of why the HIPAA violations were treated as felonies in this case.
“Political prosecution of whistleblowers not only undermines the integrity of the Department of Justice, but also sets a dangerous precedent for intimidating others from exposing wrongdoing,” he said. “It has no place in our system of justice.”
The Washington Times reached out to the Justice Department and Mr. Hamdani for comment.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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