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The Medileaks scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in 2016, and was a main plot point throughout the fourth season of Veep.

The scandal involved the administration of Selina Meyer and their presidential campaign hacking the medical records of a young girl and using child mortality data from the same breach.

Cover-up

On March 24, 2016, President Selina Meyer gave an interview with 'CBS This Morning', and mentioned "the little girl down in Pine Hill, Alabama. She's HIV positive via breast milk." Later that day, people on Reddit connected the dots and found out who this girl is, 8-year-old Jennifer Graham. Only this girl's parents and doctor knew.

It is later revealed that someone on the Meyer team was responsible for hacking Graham's medical and social security records. Because finding the culprit would be near-impossible, the Meyer administration start looking for someone to scapegoat, with the first person let-go being Leigh Patterson.

For an "I Care" Families First campaign mailer, someone on the campaign used child mortality data from the same breach that named Jennifer Graham as an HIV victim. After Patterson's departure, the press still continued to demand a head, with Patterson not being senior enough. Dan Egan is fired as a result.

Investigation

In October 2016, during a Congressional hearing on whether or not President Meyer used lobbyists to kill the Families First Bill, Leigh Patterson revealed that the campaign used child mortality data from the same breach that identified Graham as an HIV victim, which was previously not known to the public. Following the breach, Bill Ericsson was identified as the person responsible, and was arrested on November 10. Ericsson was later released from prison.

Later developments

Despite Ericsson being temporarily imprisoned for the Medileaks scandal, Meyer's own involvement in the scandal would be revealed to the world in October 2018 when journalist Leon West leaked excerpts from Mike McLintock's diary. This news would not damage Meyer, as the leak would also reveal Meyer's involvement with negotiations to free Tibet, for which she was widely praise and would encourage her to launch her 2020 presidential campaign.

Appearances

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