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WATCH: Dems spar with whistleblower who exposed children’s hospital for performing trans surgeries on minors
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee grilled whistleblower Dr. Eithan Haim this week over his criticism of transgender medical treatments, months after the Biden Justice Department dropped criminal charges against him.
During a Wednesday hearing titled «Ending Lawfare Against Whistleblowers Who Protect Children,» Haim defended his decision to leak documents to the media, revealing that Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston performed transgender medical procedures on minors through May 2023.
«I wouldn’t want this to be done to anyone, not even liberals, even if they’re the craziest communists ever,» Haim said during the hearing. «There’s no one in this country who should be falsely accused and the entire power of the federal government be brought down on them.»
DOCTOR TARGETED BY BIDEN DOJ FOR EXPOSING TRANS MEDICINE FOR MINORS INVITED TO TRUMP CONGRESSIONAL ADDRESS
House Judiciary Democrats grill Dr. Eithan Haim during a hearing this week over his whistleblower account. (Fox News Digital/House Judiciary Committee)
At one point during the hearing, ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., questioned Haim’s lawyer, Mark Lytle, about the precedent behind Haim’s case, drawing a comparison to a hypothetical scenario involving vaccination records for measles.
«If I’m in Texas, and there’s a law requiring children to get measles vaccines, and I learn that another doctor’s patients aren’t vaccinated, does that give me the right to access their medical records and release them to the media or an ideological group?» Raskin asked.
«Dr. Haim didn’t break into any systems,» Lytle responded. «He was authorized to see these records by Texas Children’s Hospital, and the prosecutor knew that.»
«Was he authorized to release the information?» Raskin asked.
«He was because he was a whistleblower, and he was reporting wrongdoing,» Lytle said.
HOUSE JUDICIARY CALLS ON BIDEN DOJ PROSECUTOR TO TESTIFY IN DR ETHAN HAIM CASE
Dr. Eithan Haim, left, and his defense attorney, Ryan Patrick, speak to the media after appearing for an arraignment hearing in Houston on June 17, 2024. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Raskin asked Lytle to explain why Haim «did not follow Texas State law and go to the Department of Social Services or another medical authority or law enforcement authority» and instead «went to an ideological organization in the media.»
Lytle responded that Haim went to the Texas Attorney General’s office as well as the media, adding, «Congress favors going to the media for whistleblowers.»
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., asked Haim whether the charges against him were «a case of the administration using weaponizing law enforcement to intimidate you and other dissenters.»
«There has to be a certain standard with our justice system, where people can’t just bring these charges and power through the courts and send these people to prison, because that’s what was going to happen to me,» Haim said.
Cline also asked Lytle whether the federal government treats whistleblowers differently depending on who’s in office.
TRUMP ADMIN WARNS STATES TO COMPLY WITH HOUSING PRISONERS BY THEIR BIOLOGICAL SEX OR FACE FUNDING CUTOFF
A view of the outside of Texas Children’s Hospital, which performed transgender medical procedures on minors, according to whistleblower Dr. Eithan Haim. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
«This case is an example of that,» Lytle said. «It’s extremely rare for anyone to be charged with criminal HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] violations, let alone the maximum 10-year charge. It’s really outrageous, and the fact that he was charged in this way shows that the prosecutor was out to get him. He was biased.»
Later in the hearing, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., further pressed Haim about releasing the medical records, asking whether children and their families should worry about their private information being released.
«When children are being mutilated and sterilized,» Haim said, adding that personal information, like the names of the patients, was not included.
Haim, a surgeon formerly affiliated with Texas Children’s Hospital, was indicted on federal charges last year for allegedly accessing and sharing private medical records of minors receiving transgender medical procedures.
Haim’s whistleblower report occurred during a transitional period in Texas’ policies regarding transgender treatments for minors. In March 2022, Texas Children’s Hospital announced it would stop such services to children following Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to investigate such treatments as potential child abuse. The hospital later resumed these services after determining compliance with existing laws. In June 2024, the Texas Supreme Court upheld Senate Bill 14, which prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the state, with the law taking effect on Sept. 1, 2024.
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DOJ prosecutors claimed Haim obtained these records under false pretenses, violating the HIPAA and providing them to the media to harm the hospital’s reputation. Facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Haim pleaded not guilty, arguing that no personally identifiable information was disclosed and that he was blowing the whistle on «child abuse» in the hospital.
In January, the DOJ dismissed the case «with prejudice,» preventing future prosecution on the same grounds. Four days later, President Donald Trump signed the «Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation» executive order, suspending federal funds for gender-transition procedures for minors, including coverage under Medicaid.
Politics,House of Representatives Democrats,Woke Culture,Texas,House Of Representatives
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Israel pounds Hezbollah targets, daring Lebanon to reclaim sovereignty from Iran-backed terror proxy
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Amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, analysts say the Trump administration should pressure Lebanon to fulfill its commitments to disarm the Iran-backed terrorist group as it drags the country into another war with Israel.
David Schenker, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs who oversaw Lebanon’s policy during the first Trump administration and now directs the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said: «The U.S. should make clear to Lebanon that it is time for the state to honor its ceasefire commitment to disarm Hezbollah,» he told Fox News Digital. Schenker warned if Beirut «doesn’t pursue disarmament, it will remain a failed state.»
The warning comes as the IDF attacked multiple Hezbollah targets Friday in response to the terror group’s launching of rockets and drones toward Israel on March 2, its first attack since a November 2024 ceasefire ended the previous round of fighting.
Smoke billows following strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, March 5, 2026. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
Since the first day of the renewed fighting, the IDF has carried out over 200 strikes across Lebanon targeting Hezbollah’s military, media and financial infrastructure, as well as operatives from the group and affiliated networks, according to a March 5 analysis by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also threatened Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem.
The renewed fighting has exposed deep tensions inside Lebanon’s government, which in recent days called on Hezbollah to disarm and ordered security agencies to prevent attacks on Israel from Lebanese territory.
IRAN COULD ‘ACTIVATE’ HEZBOLLAH IF US TARGETS REGIME, TRUMP’S INNER CIRCLE TO DECIDE: EXPERT
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes in Lebanon, following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from Marjayoun, Lebanon, March 5, 2026. (Karamallah Daher/Reuters)
Schenker says the move reflects frustration in Beirut rather than a fundamental policy shift. «The Government of Lebanon’s latest cabinet vote on Hezbollah disarmament is nothing new,» Schenker said. «It is a reiteration of the cabinet decision last August mandating the disarmament of Hezbollah. The language is perhaps more strident, but the message is the same.»
«It is a reflection of the Government’s frustration and desperation over Hezbollah dragging Lebanon into yet another war with Israel,» he added. «It also reflects the Lebanese Armed Forces’ failure to date to take its mission of disarmament seriously.»
Hezbollah’s latest attacks appear to have caught Lebanese officials off guard. Reports suggest the group had previously assured officials it would not intervene in a broader regional conflict tied to Iran.
Schenker said the episode underscores a longstanding reality in Lebanon’s political system. «The government of Lebanon has never tried to control Hezbollah,» he said. «The few months that the LAF devoted to disarmament in south Lebanon was performed with Hezbollah’s consent and coordinated with the militia.»
Still, public frustration inside Lebanon may be shifting the political environment. «Given the population’s growing anger toward Hezbollah now, the political environment should be more conducive for the LAF to confront Hezbollah,» Schenker said.
ON MADURO’S ‘TERROR ISLAND,’ HEZBOLLAH OPERATIVES MOVE IN AS TOURISTS DRIFT OUT
Iran rebuilds Hezbollah ties as Trump gives a 10-15 day deadline. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
«The fear of ‘civil war’—i.e., Hezbollah perpetrating violence against the Government—remains,» he added. «But increasingly, Lebanese prefer taking that risk and possibly gaining sovereignty than being in a state of perpetual war with Israel.»
In a clip posted on X by the Center for Peace Communications, Lebanese people angrily responded to Hezbollah’s actions with one man telling Jusoor News: «If Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem wants to commit suicide, let him go do it in Tehran, not Lebanon.»
According to David Daoud, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Hezbollah’s decision to attack Israel despite the ceasefire reflects the group’s willingness to escalate the conflict even as Lebanon’s government seeks to avoid another war.
The crisis has also drawn international attention. French President Emmanuel Macron called for urgent steps to prevent Lebanon from sliding deeper into war.
«Everything must be done to prevent this country, so close to France, from once again being drawn into war,» Macron wrote in a statement posted on X on March 5 after speaking with Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese leaders.
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Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (R) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump’s Deputy Special Representative for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus (L) at the Baabda Palace in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 7, 2025. (Photo by Lebanese Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Macron said Hezbollah «must immediately cease its fire toward Israel,» while urging Israel to avoid expanding military operations inside Lebanon.
For now, analysts say the outcome may depend on whether Lebanon’s government is willing to confront Hezbollah directly or continue to tolerate Iran’s terror proxy that has long operated outside the control of the government’s control.
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Dem Senate hopeful holds event at bookstore selling ‘ABOLISH ICE’ merch despite pledge to ‘secure the border’
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A Democratic Senate hopeful in Iowa is pitching himself as a candidate who believes in the party’s «old Democratic values.»
However, on Saturday, State Senator Zach Wahls hosted a campaign event at a radical activist bookstore, Dog-Eared Books, that has been vocal about abolishing ICE, financially supports anti-ICE nonprofits, holds drag story time for kids, and promotes books banned in schools for their sexually explicit content, among other far-left activism the store engages in.
Fox News Digital asked Wahls ahead of the event if he was aware of the bookstore’s radical track record and whether he regretted holding a campaign event there, but Wahls never responded.
Meanwhile, Wahls’ campaign website promises Iowans he will work to «secure the border and fix our broken immigration system,» and in posts on social media he has insisted that the nation must have an immigration system based on «law and order.»
Democratic Iowa State Sen. Zach Wahls (right) next to an image of Dog-Eared Books located in Ames, Iowa. (Getty Images/Fox News)
«I believe in the old Democratic values of hard work and family, not handouts for billionaires and insiders,» Wahls also touts in a campaign video pinned to the top of his X account.
Video obtained by Fox News Digital from outside the Ames, Iowa, bookstore where Wahls held his campaign meet-and-greet event at alongside his novelist wife, titled «Reading and Running: A conversation with Zach Wahls and Chloe Angyal,» showed at least one sign right next to the front entrance reading «ICE IS NOT WELCOME HERE» in bold capital letters. The store has hosted events for Wahls’ wife in the past prior to Saturday, and sells her romance novels.
In the wake of the federal agent-involved shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the bookstore created a logo of a dog in sunglasses holding a protest sign that reads «ABOLISH ICE,» and even put it on a stickler the store is selling on its website.
Following the shootings of Good and Pretti, the store also pledged to donate 25% of its sales to a network of mostly anonymous philanthropic groups called the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund. Some of the groups that have been publicly reported to be affiliated with the fund, include anti-ICE groups like the George Soros-funded Headwaters Foundation for Justice, which says it «believe[s] in a future without ICE,» and the Black Collective Foundation Minnesota.
DEMOCRAT IN KEY SENATE PRIMARY SAYS SHE ‘REGRETS’ VOTE ON LAKEN RILEY ACT, DRAWS GOP BACKLASH
«Do not retreat. Do not back down. Double Down,» Lulete Mola, president and co-founder of the group, said following the ICE shootings in Minneapolis, according to Inside Philanthropy.
A sign reading «ICE IS NOT WELCOME HERE» sits in the window right next to the door at Dog-Eared Books on the night U.S. Senate candidate from Iowa held a campaign event there to meet with constituents. (Fox News)
Besides being staunchly anti-ICE, the bookstore where Wahls held his meet-and-greet event on Saturday also has a history of supporting child gender transitions and has worked against Republican lawmakers’ efforts aimed at protecting women by removing «gender identity» from the state’s list of protected classes under Iowa’s civil rights laws.
Dog-Eared Books also has a history of holding drag story time events for kids, including one that featured a 14-year-old teenage drag queen, and touts selling «banned» books that are frequently removed from school districts due to what critics deem is non-age appropriate sexually explicit content. Among them being sold is «All Boys Aren’t Blue,» by George Johnson, which Dog-Eared books notes on social media is «one of the most frequently banned books in Iowa,» and «Gender Queer,» by Maia Kobabe, a book widely banned in schools for its’ graphic sexual imagery.
Meanwhile, the store has also exhibited alignment with radical anti-Israel folks, claiming in a Facebook event post for a «Tattoos For Palestine» event that Israel is «committing a Genocide» with its actions that followed the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. And, a web page on the bookstore’s website, encourages people to join their letter-writing campaign to lawmakers, aimed at promoting its values that include «No human is illegal. All people deserve access to reproductive healthcare. Healthcare is a human right,» and other policy positions that skew to the far-left.
Books on display at Dog-Eared Books include American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten’s titled «Why Fascists Fear Teachers» and «How Fascism Works» by Yale progessor Jason Stanley. (Fox News)
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Fox News Digital also reached out to Wahls after the event and did not receive a response. The bookstore did not provide a response either.
Wahls is vying to take over the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by junior Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and if he were to win, would sit alongside longtime senior Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Wahls, a former Iowa Senate Minority Leader, is taking on a field of opponents for his upcoming primary race in June. Among his main contenders is Democrat State Rep. Josh Turek.
Before entering politics, Wahls went viral as a young adult after giving a speech in the Iowa legislature about growing up with two moms, amid efforts in the state to amend the portion of the state’s constitution tied to same-sex marriage. He and his novelist wife credit the event for their meeting.
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En una imagen capturada por una cámara sumergida a 500 metros de profundidad, científicos documentaron la presencia de un tiburón “dormilón” en aguas antárticas, un lugar donde hasta hace poco se creía poco habitual hallar a estos grandes depredadores.
La escena se desarrolló cerca de las islas Shetland del Sur, en un entorno donde las temperaturas del agua apenas superan el punto de congelación. El equipo del Centro de Investigación Oceánica Profunda Minderoo-UWA detectó a este tiburón gracias a una cámara instalada para monitorear la biodiversidad marina. Alan Jamieson, profesor de la Universidad de Australia Occidental y director del centro, recordó el asombro del grupo: “Todos nos quedamos perplejos, pensando: ‘No creo que haya tiburones en la Antártida’”, explicó a National Geographic.
Hasta ese momento, los registros de tiburones en la región se limitaban a aguas del Ártico y el Pacífico Norte, pero nunca tan al sur. El ejemplar, de entre dos y tres metros de longitud, pertenece al grupo de los tiburones dormilones, conocidos por su metabolismo extremadamente lento y su capacidad para vivir en ambientes hostiles.
La capacidad de los tiburones dormilones para soportar condiciones extremas se debe a una serie de adaptaciones únicas. Estos animales crecen menos de un centímetro al año y rara vez superan los cuatro kilómetros por hora de velocidad. Su bajo consumo energético les permite sobrevivir en entornos fríos y con escasez de alimento. Ese metabolismo reducido tiene ventajas claras. Al consumir muy poca energía, estos tiburones pueden sobrevivir en entornos donde el alimento es escaso y las temperaturas son extremadamente bajas.
La ciencia ha descubierto que sus tejidos contienen altas concentraciones de urea y N-óxido de trimetilamina (TMAO). La urea ayuda a mantener el equilibrio osmótico con el agua marina, aunque puede desestabilizar las proteínas del organismo. En ese punto, el TMAO actúa como estabilizador y permite que las proteínas funcionen a temperaturas cercanas al punto de congelación. “Aunque todos los tiburones tienen TMAO en su organismo, los tiburones dormilones tienen mucho más que la mayoría”, explicó el investigador Dave Ebert.
Otro aspecto sorprendente es la longevidad de estos animales. Estudios genéticos recientes han identificado duplicaciones en genes relacionados con la reparación del ADN y la protección contra el estrés oxidativo, un mecanismo que podría explicar por qué algunos tiburones de Groenlandia —parientes del ejemplar hallado— viven más de 400 años. Como la mayoría de los tiburones dormilones, este individuo puede haber estado vivo durante la era de Bellingshausen y James Clark Ross en el siglo XIX.
La cámara que permitió el hallazgo operaba en una zona donde una corriente de agua relativamente cálida fluye sobre el fondo marino. En este canal, la temperatura llegó a 1,27℃, lo que podría haber facilitado la presencia del tiburón en aguas tan australes.
El responsable de la investigación, Alan Jamieson, no oculta su incertidumbre: “Hay diferentes tipos de rareza en el mundo, y este tipo es absolutamente astronómico”, expresó. El propio Jamieson confesó que, en 25 años de carrera, solo había visto cuatro tiburones dormilones y nunca en la Antártida.
El hallazgo plantea interrogantes sobre la presencia de una posible población estable en el área. “Lo difícil es saber cuántos tiburones viven en aguas antárticas”, señaló Jamieson. Los científicos creen que la cámara pudo captar al tiburón porque se encontraba en una zona de agua ligeramente más cálida, lo que sugiere la existencia de corredores que permiten a estos animales explorar regiones más australes.
De momento, no existen datos suficientes para determinar si se trata de una aparición aislada o del indicio de una comunidad poco conocida. Como concluyó el propio Jamieson: “El descubrimiento de un tiburón dormilón en aguas antárticas sugiere que realmente no hay ningún lugar en el océano donde los tiburones no puedan sobrevivir”.
«A mí no me van a llevar puesto como a Macri», aseguró el Presidente antes de viajar otra vez a EE.UU.
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