President Joe Biden’s top science adviser repeatedly bullied, demeaned, and humiliated his colleagues—many of them women—according to an internal White House investigation reported by Politico. Eric Lander, a member of Biden’s Cabinet and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, apologized for his conduct in an email to colleagues last week, but the scale of his inappropriate behavior only came to light with the conclusions of the internal investigation reported Monday. The investigation uncovered “credible evidence” that Lander was “bullying” toward his then-general counsel, Rachel Wallace, and had spoken “harshly and disrespectfully to colleagues in front of other colleagues.” It went on: “The investigation found credible evidence of instances of multiple women having complained to other staff about negative interactions with Dr. Lander, where he spoke to them in a demeaning or abrasive way in front of other staff.” Lander declined to comment to Politico. Biden previously vowed to fire any staff members who disrespected colleagues.
