A senior National Institutes of Health leader was fired Monday amid an investigation into a contract on autism and other topics that could have benefited his spouse, according to three officials familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
A $3.3 million NIH contract to a Louisiana company, Argo Chasing, named Trish DuffySchnabel, the wife of the NIH’s chief operating officer on its list of staff, according to the officials. The award, made in early July, supports workon several matters including autism, a topicthat is a priority of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
[…]
Eric Schnabel joined NIH as chief operating officer in April after 25 years in the Army. In the email announcing his arrival, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya said Schnabel had held “pivotal security and operations roles within the Army, the Department of Defense and corporate America” and emphasized that he would play a key role at NIH in “detecting, deterring and responding to threats.
He had no had no scientific or biomedical background. But who needs that at the NIH, amirite?
I’m honestly not sure what the problem is here. Hardly anyone in the Trump administration is qualified for their jobs. And the Trump administration is so rife with corruption (the president is selling everything from perfume to memecoins right out of the oval office) that this seems like very small potatoes. Since when do Trumpers care about nepotism? Surely, making a buck can’t be wrong! Everybody’s doing it!
I’m thinking there must be more to this. Stay tuned,