A Dallas doctor awaiting trial on charges that he violated patient privacy laws to expose transgender care at Texas Children’s Hospital openly criticized the prosecution on social media Wednesday, despite a federal judge’s warning not to make statements that could influence a jury.
In a retweet of his wife’s post on X, Eithan Haim said he no longer could stay silent. He dismissed the charges as “utter fabrications,” claimed he was being targeted as part of a plot to protect “an evil ideology,” and vowed not to “bend the knee to their corruption.”
Haim also referred to the court where he is scheduled to stand trial next month as a “kangaroo court,” a comment likely to catch the attention of U.S. District Judge David Hittner. Appointed to the Houston federal bench by President Reagan in 1986, Hittner warned Haim in December about making statements that could prejudice the case.
That warning came after prosecutors presented tweets from Haim and his attorney, Marcella Burke, arguing that the posts could undermine the jury selection process. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Feinstein, Lauretta Bahry and Tyler White are handling the case.
At the close of the nearly two-hour hearing in December, Hittner declined to issue a gag order, but emphasized that he would “not hesitate” to reconsider if similar conduct continued.
“I’m leaving it to the attorneys. One shot, like I did last time. You know what the cases say,” Hittner said, adding that in more than four decades of judicial experience, he had never imposed a gag order.
Haim, a former Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston employee, is scheduled to stand trial on charges that he accessed the private information of underage patients outside his care and leaked it to a conservative activist. Haim, who is free on a $10,000 bond, faces up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
Ryan Patrick, a former state prosecutor, judge and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas is representing Haim alongside Burke. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During his residency at Baylor College of Medicine from 2018 through 2023, worked at Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the country. At one point during the residency, Haim accessed the private information of patients outside of his care, including names, treatment codes, dates of service and attending physicians, the indictment against him alleges.
Haim then shared a portion of that information with conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who published an article in May 2023. The article alleged that the hospital had continued to administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors, despite previously pledging to stop.
Shortly after the article was published, the Texas Legislature passed a law banning transgender minors from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapies. Haim has acknowledged sharing the information with Rufo but insists he did not break the law, arguing that the documents were redacted.
Since being indicted in May on four counts of wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information, Haim has portrayed himself as a victim of political persecution by the government. His stance has gained traction among Texas Republicans, including U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Representatives Chip Roy and Dan Crenshaw. Supporters have raised more than $1.2 million to fund his defense.
In her tweet on Wednesday, Haim’s wife criticized Jennifer Lowery, who became acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas after Alamdar Hamdani stepped down, anticipating a resignation request from the Trump administration.
Andrea Haim, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, posted a picture of Lowery and argued that by not dropping her husband’s case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Texas’ Southern District was violating a recent executive order.
The order, titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” instructs the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to investigate actions taken by the previous administration for potential political bias and produce a report on their findings.
“Not only have they refused to drop the case, in the last few days, they have ACCELERATED their prosecution ahead of trial on Feb 10. They are attempting to bleed us dry, and make no mistake, they will try to take him to trial and put him in prison for 10 years if they aren’t stopped,” Andrea Haim said in her post, which had garnered more than 1.3 million views and nearly 6,000 retweets by Thursday morning. For comparison, Haim’s retweet was nearing a million views.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Texas’ Southern District declined to comment.
Eithan Haim’s trial is scheduled for Feb. 10, and his recent retweet shows no indication that he is considering a plea deal with prosecutors.
“So, at this moment, we will fight,” Haim wrote. “We will fight in the public square. We will fight in the courtroom. We will fight in Congress. We will fight no matter what the cost.”
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