A $3.3 million NIH contract to a Louisiana company, Argo Chasing, named Trish Duffy Schnabel, the wife of the NIH’s chief operating officer on its list of staff.
July 16, 2025

Only the best people! He must have forgotten to get Trump his cut, because I don't remember anyone being fired from a Trump administration post on the basis of grifting. I mean, that's almost a given. What's the real story? Via the Washington Post:

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 Duffy Schnabel, 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 work on several matters including autism, a topic that is a priority of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On Monday afternoon, NIH’s chief operating officer, Eric Schnabel, was escorted out of the building just three months into his new job, according to the officials. An HHS spokesman declined to comment on a personnel matter.

Seriously. Has being a grifter ever been a basis for a Trump official to be canned? Just seems a little fishy. And as a Republican official once told me, "If I'm not in this job to help my friends and family, why am I here?" There you go, the GOP mission statement!

NIH chief operating officer Eric Schnabel was escorted out of the building just three months into his new job, after officials began looking into whether he steered a contract on autism and other topics to benefit his spouse, Trish Schnabel, according to multiple officials familiar with the matter

Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) 2025-07-16T01:59:22.066Z

The contract #TrishBish and hubby Eric SchNABLER were after? RFK Jr.'s eyeroll endeavor to "find the cause of autism" (let us save you the $—it's genetic💅). Yes, the same ADSI in conflict with his vax lawsuit earnings using an Other Transaction NIH funding instrument to bypass grant regulations.

Alt Moms ROAR (@altmomsroar.bsky.social) 2025-07-16T04:05:50.277Z

Can't have your cake and eat it too #TrishBish! Trish Schnabel—named by WaPo as wife of NIH COO Eric Schnabel—just tried to weasel her way into a $3.3M Autism Data Science Initiative contract with a stunning 2-for-1 conflicts prize puzzle given her private practice specializing in...🥁...autism!

Alt Moms ROAR (@altmomsroar.bsky.social) 2025-07-16T04:05:50.275Z

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