By Mandy Taheri
May 23, 2024
Source: Newsweek
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is under fire after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic reviewed more than 30,000 pages of subpoenaed emails and documents from Dr. David Morens, Fauci's former senior adviser.
The subcommittee, led by Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup, said the emails raised "serious questions as to whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of [the National Institutes of Health] to hide official records related to the origins of COVID-19." Morens testified in front of the subcommittee Wednesday, and Fauci is slated to testify on June 3.
According to a press release from the subcommittee, the 35-page memo "incriminates Dr. Morens in undermining the operations of the U.S. government, unlawfully deleting federal COVID-19 records, using a personal email to avoid the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and repeatedly acting unbecoming of a federal employee."
Fauci, as the nation's top infectious-disease expert, led the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. Over the years, he has faced public backlash over mask and vaccine mandates and theories about the virus' origin and subsequent alleged cover-ups. Several GOP leaders believe the virus originated from a scientific lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, China—not through species-to-species transmission, a widely supported theory in the scientific community.
The subcommittee wrote in the press release that the emails suggested "Dr. Fauci was aware of Dr. Morens' nefarious behavior and may have even engaged in federal records violations himself."
Newsweek has contacted Wenstrup's press team and the Georgetown University Medical Center's communications team on behalf of Fauci—who holds a professorship there—for comment via email.
Many of Morens' emails were sent to or copied Peter Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a U.S.-based nonprofit that describes its mission as "protecting wildlife and public health from the emergence of disease." EcoHealth Alliance received a $3.4 million NIH grant in 2014, of which about $600,000 was sent to the Wuhan virology lab to study bat coronaviruses. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, which audited EcoHealth Alliance, from 2014 to 2021, three NIH awards to the nonprofit totaled about $8 million. Last week, the department suspended funding to EcoHealth.
Conducting NIH Business via Personal Email and 'Back Channel'
Many of Morens' emails mentioned avoiding FOIA requests and urged individuals to contact his private email address rather than his NIH government-issued account.
In an April 21, 2021, email to Daszak, Morens sought to conduct business either via personal email or with no electronic record. He wrote: "PS, I forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony [Fauci] on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble."
FOIAs allow Americans to access records from federal agencies by requesting information unless it falls under one of nine exemptions, such as protecting national security and personal privacy.
On May 13, 2021, Morens wrote an email, which Daszak was copied on, suggesting someone speak with Fauci through an unofficial, private channel. He wrote: "Interview Tony directly and connected him to our 'secret' back channel. He emailed Tony a few hours ago." The subject line of the email suggested the conversation was about the origins of COVID-19.
On November 19, 2021, Morens emailed Dr. Gerald Keusch, the associate director of Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Institute, about navigating communications to avoid FOIAs.
He wrote: "BOTH my gmail and phone calls are now safe. Text is NOT, as it can be FOIA'd, as can my govt email. So you and Peter and others should be able to email me on gmail only, with the caveat that no other govt. employee is copied at a govt address, as all govt emails are potentially FOIA'able."
Findings from other emails showed Morens sought help from "our IT folks" and "our FOIA lady how to make emails disappear."
In his Wednesday testimony, Morens said: Daszak "has been a personal friend of mine for almost twenty years. I've had government interactions with him that would be on my NIH email, but almost all of my interactions for years have been personal, as a friend."
Morens went on to say that Daszak and his family faced death threats in early 2020 and that their correspondence "wasn't government business." When pressed by Representative Nicole Malliotakis on whether he had used his private email account for government business, Morens said: "I don't remember, but if I did, I shouldn't have done that. That's wrong."
Later in his testimony, Morens said he "tried to make sure" he never did official business on his personal Gmail account.
Morens Says He Deleted Emails
On June 16, 2020, after the pandemic was in full swing, Morens sent an email to Daszak, with other members of EcoHealth Alliance copied, about FOIAs. He wrote, "We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did we wouldn't put them in emails and if we found them we'd delete them."
Later, on October 5, 2021, Morens sent an email to Daszak—with the subject line "Re: Talking with Elizabeth Warren's staff"—saying he had deleted emails.
He wrote: "I deleted that email but I now learn that every email I ever got/sent since 1998 is captured and will be turned over, whether or not I instantly deleted it. Gmail, phone, text ... I need to scrupulously rely on those exclusively."
Morens served as Fauci's senior adviser from 1998 to 2022.
Asking Daszak for a 'Kick-Back'
An August 27, 2020, email from Morens to Daszak and Keusch—with the subject line "NIH awards $7.5 million grant to EcoHealth Alliance, months after uproar over political interference"—showed Morens asking for monetary reimbursement.
He wrote: "Ahem ... do I get a kickback???? Too much f*****g money! DO you deserve it all?" Hours later, Daszak replied: "Of course there's a kick-back. It starts with 5 more years of FOIA requests."
The subcommittee said that "this action is not only highly concerning, but it is also likely illegal." Federal employees are not allowed to accept gifts from outside parties for their work.
Tim Belevetz, Morens' lawyer, told Newsweek in an email Wednesday: "Dr. Morens is a career public servant. The focus of his work has been finding solutions to pressing public health issues through the use of science and free from politics."
Several emails showed Morens making inappropriate and disrespectful comments, many toward women. Morens apologized for those messages during his testimony.
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