The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is probing ‘a major pediatric teaching hospital’ over the alleged firing of a nurse who sought a religious exemption to avoid administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

‘The Department will robustly enforce federal laws protecting these courageous whistleblowers, including laws that protect healthcare professionals from being forced to violate their religious beliefs or moral convictions,’ Acting HHS OCR Director Anthony Archeval said in a statement.

While HHS has not confirmed the hospital’s identity, it is believed to be Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) — the largest children’s hospital in the U.S. — as the investigation follows whistleblower nurse Vanessa Sivadge’s testimony on Capitol Hill. Sivadge first came forward publicly in June 2024 and was later fired in August 2024.

Sivadge told lawmakers that she had witnessed ‘disturbing trends and concerning practices’ relating to the treatment of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. She also said that she ‘observed the powerful and irreversible effects’ of treatments that patients were told were ‘lifesaving.’ 

‘I witnessed firsthand how doctors emotionally blackmailed parents by telling them that if they did not affirm their child’s false identity, their child would harm themselves. In particular, I was saddened to see young girls suffering from profound mental health struggles like depression and anxiety, many of whom had also suffered sexual abuse or trauma, persuaded by doctors at Texas Children’s that a hormone would resolve their gender confusion,’ Sivadge told lawmakers.

Dr. Eithan Haim, who was accused of violating HIPAA while in surgical training at Baylor College of Medicine, which is affiliated with TCH, also blew the whistle on the hospital for ‘lying about the existence of its transgender program.’ The Biden DOJ brought charges against Haim for the alleged HIPAA violations, but the case was ultimately dropped under the Trump administration.

Haim claimed the hospital was engaging in fraudulent billing practices to hide the fact that it was carrying out transgender procedures on minors even though it was against Texas law. This included recording mastectomies as ‘breast reduction’ surgeries and billing testosterone prescribed to a teen girl under a male diagnosis.

In her testimony, Sivadge said that federal agents came to her home when investigating the whistleblower, now known to be Haim, because of her objections to transgender medicine. She described the interaction as intimidating and said that one of the special agents ‘effectively asked me to compromise my Christian beliefs and made veiled threats regarding my career and safety if I didn’t comply with their demands.’

Sivadge’s attorney filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 11, alleging that she ‘observed TCH doctors, after very little deliberation or critical analysis, embarking children on dangerous and often irreversible courses of ‘gender-affirming’ treatment.’

According to the complaint, TCH ‘temporarily’ paused ‘gender-affirming services’ for minors after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in February 2022 that such treatments could constitute child abuse. The treatments were banned in the state following the passage of a bill in May 2023, which went into effect in September 2023. According to Sivadge’s attorney, she asked to be transferred back to cardiology in May 2024, citing her religious beliefs. 

Sivadge publicly blew the whistle on TCH on June 18, 2024, and was asked not to report to work the next day, according to the complaint. Just days later, on June 21, she was placed on administrative leave and was officially terminated in August 2024. TCH alleged that the termination of her employment was due to improper access to medical records.

On Jan. 28, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the ‘Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation’ order, which prevents minors from undergoing transgender treatments. In accordance with this order, HHS has issued guidelines for prospective whistleblowers.

Fox News has reached out to TCH and HHS for comment.

There’s no denying that President Donald Trump is moving at warp speed during his second tour of duty in the White House.

‘We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started,’ the president said during his prime-time address to Congress and the nation last month.

And a few days later, the White House team touted, ’50 WINS IN 50 DAYS: President Trump Delivers for Americans.’

Trump has aggressively asserted executive authority in his second term, overturning long-standing government policy and making major cuts to the federal workforce through an avalanche of sweeping and controversial executive orders and actions – many aimed at addressing grievances he has held since his first term.

But the most recent national public opinion polls suggest that Americans aren’t thrilled with the job the president is doing.

The latest Gallup poll, conducted April 1-14 and released on Thursday, indicates that Trump is underwater, with a 44% approval rating and 53% disapproval rating.

Most, but not all, of the most recent national public opinion surveys indicate Trump’s approval ratings in negative territory, which is a slide from the president’s poll position when he started his second tour of duty in the White House.

Contributing to the slide are increasing concerns over the economy and inflation, which was a pressing issue that kept former President Joe Biden’s approval ratings well below water for most of his presidency. And Trump’s blockbuster tariff announcement two weeks ago, which sparked a trade war with some of the nation’s top trading partners, triggered a massive sell-off in the financial markets and increased concerns about a recession.

The Gallup poll is the latest to spotlight the massive partisan divide over the polarizing president.

Nine out of 10 Republicans questioned by Gallup gave Trump a thumbs up, but only 4% of Democrats said they approved of the president’s performance. Among Independents, only 37% approved of the job Trump’s doing steering the nation.

With the president reaching three months into his second term this weekend – he was inaugurated on Jan. 20 – Gallup is comparing his approval ratings with his presidential predecessors.

According to Gallup’s figures, Trump’s average approval rating during the first quarter of his first year back in office is 45%.

While that’s an improvement from his 41% average approval rating during the first three months of his first administration, in 2017, it’s far below previous presidents.

‘John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower had the highest first-quarter average ratings, with both registering above 70%, while Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan averaged between 60% and 69%. George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton had similar average ratings of 55% to 58% in their first quarters,’ Gallup noted in its release. 

Gallup highlighted that ‘Trump is the only president to have sub-50% average approval ratings during a first quarter in office.’

But enjoying promising approval ratings out of the gate doesn’t guarantee a positive and productive presidency.

Carter’s poll numbers sank into negative territory less than two years into his presidency, and he was resoundingly defeated in his bid for re-election in 1980.

Biden’s approval rating hovered in the low-to-mid-50s during the first six months of his single term as president, with his disapproval in the upper 30s to the low- to-mid-40s. 

However, Biden’s numbers sank into negative territory in the late summer and autumn of 2021, in the wake of his much-criticized handling of the turbulent U.S. exit from Afghanistan, and amid soaring inflation and a surge of migrants crossing into the U.S. along the nation’s southern border with Mexico.

Biden’s approval ratings stayed underwater throughout the rest of his presidency, and he dropped his bid for re-election last summer.

Code Pink, the liberal antiwar group known best for disrupting hearings in their trademark fuchsia garb, may need to register under a 1938 law requiring disclosure of political behavior benefiting foreign entities or governments, according to a top Senate Republican.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote a letter Wednesday to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi openly considering whether Code Pink, as well as the New York-based socialist ‘incubator’ The People’s Forum, must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

‘The Department of Justice has a duty to ensure compliance with the [FARA, which] remains a priority tool to combat adversarial foreign governments from influencing public policy and opinion in the United States,’ Grassley wrote.

‘FARA provides the American people with much-needed accountability and transparency. FARA is a content-neutral law and does not require any entity or individual to refrain from certain types of speech or activities. It simply requires individuals to register with the DOJ if they are acting as an agent of a foreign government or enterprise attempting to influence U.S. public policy.’

Focusing particularly on China, Grassley said the CCP spent more than $400 million since 2016 to influence American politics, and that both Code Pink and The People’s Forum have ties to a wealthy Shanghai-based U.S. citizen-activist, Neville Roy Singham, and the CCP itself.

‘Mr. Singham has denied working with the Chinese government; however, in July 2023, Mr. Singham reportedly attended a Communist Party workshop about ‘promoting the party internationally,” Grassley wrote.

‘Reportedly, Mr. Singham shares office and staff with the Shanghai Maku Cultural Communication Company, whose goal is to ‘educate foreigners about ‘the miracles that China has created on the world stage.’ Further, it is reported that Mr. Singham’s news outlet is co-producing a show on YouTube that is partially financed by Shanghai’s propaganda department,’ he added, footnoting a New York Times report from 2023.

Code Pink was co-founded by Jodie Evans – Singham’s wife – and according to Grassley, it received hefty donations from groups tied to Singham.

Grassley, appearing to cite the Times, catalogued Evans’ reported criticism of the Uyghurs as terrorists, though they are considered by the U.S. government to be victims of human rights abuses at the hands of the Chinese government. He wrote that when Evans married Singham and ‘became a recipient of funds tied to him,’ she and Code Pink became ‘stridently’ pro-China.

The letter also cited a meeting between Code Pink and the House Select Committee on China, in which he said they ‘denied evidence of forced labor in Xinjiang, a public policy position that benefits China’s interests’ and separately urged the Foreign Relations Committee to vote ‘nay’ on funding a $1.6 billion anti-Chinese-propaganda campaign.

As for The People’s Forum, which operates a café and meeting space in Manhattan, Grassley cited a Free Press report finding Singham the ‘main funder’ of the group, which organized anti-Israel protests in Times Square after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks.

Grassley cited a tweet in which The People’s Forum responded to claims that it receives ‘dark money,’ and it goes on to say how it met ‘Roy Singham, a Marxist comrade who sold his company and donated most of his wealth to non-profits that focus on political education, culture & internationalism.’

Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., previously wrote to The People’s Forum demanding answers for alleged ties to the July 24 pro-Palestinian mass-vandalism protest at Washington-Union Station, and the broader ‘Shut-It-Down-4-Palestine movement’ nationwide.

In a statement, Grassley said, ‘Evidence suggests that The People’s Forum and Code Pink have been funded and influenced by Mr. Singham and the Communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principals.’

‘The evidence also suggests that The People’s Forum and Code Pink have engaged in covered political activities that directly advance the Communist Chinese government’s political and policy interests.’

‘Secretive foreign lobbying and public relations campaigns by China and other adversaries undermines the political will and interests of the American people,’ he added, calling on Bondi and Patel to review any interactions between the groups and DOJ, and what the feds have done to assess their FARA eligibility.

Fox News Digital reached out to Code Pink and The People’s Forum, as well as two emails listed for Singham, but did not hear back.

The Trump administration rolled out a revamped COVID.gov website Friday showing the ‘true origins’ of the coronavirus, while admonishing Democrats and the media for discrediting the theory the virus leaked from a lab and alternative health treatments, and for imposing strict mandates. 

‘This administration prioritizes transparency over all else,’ a senior administration official told Fox News Digital Friday. ‘The American people deserve to know the truth about the Covid pandemic and we will always find ways to reach communities with that message.’ 

The website, which previously had focused on promoting the coronavirus vaccine to Americans, now walks readers through evidence supporting the lab leak theory, how former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci promoted the idea that COVID-19 originated naturally, former President Joe Biden pardoning Fauci for ‘any offenses against’ the U.S. he may have committed, and providing details on the origin of the ‘social distancing’ rules and mask mandates. 

”The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2′ publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was promoted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally,’ the site states, before launching into five bullet points on the origins of the virus. 

The new site outlines that a biological characteristic found in the virus was not found in nature, bolstering the lab leak theory, while noting that Wuhan, China, where the first coronavirus case was found, is also home to China’s ‘foremost SARs research lab’ and that ‘if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.’

The Trump administration’s CIA reported earlier in 2025 that a lab leak was the likely origin of the COVID-19 virus, which had been passed off by media outlets and scientists as a likely conspiracy theory during the early days of the pandemic. The Department of Energy under the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2023 also said evidence indicated the coronarius was the result of a lab leak. 

The website also walks readers through the origins of COVID-era rules, such as mask mandates and social distancing. 

‘The ‘6 feet apart’ social distancing recommendation — which shut down schools and small business across the country — was arbitrary and not based on science,’ it states. ‘During closed door testimony, Dr. Fauci testified that guidance ‘sort of just appeared.’ 

The website says of mask mandates: ‘There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19. Public health officials flip-flopped on the efficacy of masks without providing Americans scientific data — causing a massive uptick in public distrust.’ 

The website notes that content on the page was sourced directly from the House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

‘Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency,’ the website states under a portion called ‘COVID-19 misinformation.’ ‘Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions.’ 

Many media outlets dismissed Trump in 2020 when he said he had seen evidence that the virus originated in a Wuhan, China, lab, before U.S. intelligence officials such as Wray and the Department of Energy reported that the virus likely originated there. 

Many outlets have since published articles showing the theory is credible, including the New York Times running a March column claiming the scientific community ‘badly misled’ the public in an effort to suppress theory, even after the paper’s own science writer called the theory ‘racist.’