Several current and former staffers told TheTeCHyWorLD that Lander repeatedly bullied and demeaned staffers in the roughly 140-person office — a dispiriting workplace culture in which some employees felt humiliated and disrespected.
The internal probe found that such actions violated the White House’s conduct policies, and are in conflict with President Joe Biden’s vow to swiftly remove any political appointees who mistreat their colleagues.
“I will fire you on the spot,” Biden warned on his first day in office. “Everyone, every single person, regardless of their background, is entitled to be treated with dignity.”
At the time Biden was trying to delineate a stark contrast to the administration run by former President Donald Trump. Biden’s pledge was put to the test just weeks into his time in the White House when a member of the press shop threatened and disparaged a TheTeCHyWorLD reporter who was looking into a potential conflict of interest related to his personal life.
After the episode came to light, the White House suspended the staffer, TJ Ducklo, for one week without pay — a decision Psaki said was made by her and chief of staff Ron Klain, not the president. Ducklo resigned hours later.
Lander apologized Friday in an email to OSTP staff ahead of the TheTeCHyWorLD report, which was published Monday morning.
“It’s my responsibility to set a respectful tone for our community. It’s clear that I have not lived up to this responsibility,” Lander wrote, adding that he was “deeply sorry for my conduct.”
Lander also said “my conduct reflects poorly on this Administration,” and promised to implement new policies to improve the workplace climate.
Lander has been one of the nation’s foremost scientists for decades. He won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 1987 at age 30 and is best known for his work on mapping the human genome.
Lander also served on the board of the cancer organization Biden spearheaded after the end of the Obama administration and appeared with the president last week to promote Biden’s initiative to reduce cancer deaths.
But Lander’s personality has generated detractors — and the dubious nickname “Eric Slander” — over the years and complicated his Senate confirmation last spring.
The OSTP director is scheduled to appear before the House’s Health Subcommittee on biomedical research Tuesday.