A top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has recently acknowledged using his personal email account to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and even deleted some emails during the pandemic, according to records obtained by House lawmakers investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. David Morens, who has served with the NIAID for approximately 25 years, may have potentially violated the law, as indicated by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
The revelations came to light when the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic disclosed the emails on Thursday. One of the emails, between Morens and Bloomberg reporter Jason Gale, revealed that Morens had to seek approval from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services to discuss the “origins” of COVID-19. Morens stated in the email, later published by The Intercept, “Sometimes they are touchy about certain issues and say no. For many months, I have not been approved to talk about the ‘origins’ on the record.” In a surprising turn of events, Morens mentioned that Dr. Fauci had asked him to speak on the record about the origins to National Geographic. However, Morens interpreted this request to mean that while the government was being more lenient, Fauci did not want to be directly associated with the discussion on the origins.
Additional emails revealed that Morens was concerned about the content of his work email versus his personal email, assuring recipients on the email chain that they need not worry as he would “delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.” Morens explained in a September 2021 email to several scientists involved in the debate over COVID’s origins, “As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly. Stuff sent to my gmail gets to my phone…but not my NIH computer.” He further added that any undesirable content sent to any of his email addresses would be promptly deleted.
In a separate email from September 7, 2021, EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak mentioned previous reporting by The Intercept on coronavirus research in Chinese labs, stating that “The lab leakers are already stirring up bulls–t lines of attack that will bring more negative publicity our way — which is what this is about — a way to line up the [gain-of-function] attack on Fauci, or the ‘risky research’ attack on all of us.” Morens replied to Daszak, suggesting that legal action should not be ruled out, implying the potential filing of a slander lawsuit against the individuals mentioned in the report.
Earlier this month, the Government Accountability Office revealed that EcoHealth Alliance had provided more than $2 million in subgrants from the NIH and the US Agency for International Development to the Wuhan Institute of Virology between 2014 and 2021.
Brad Wenstrup, the chair of the subcommittee investigating the matter, sent a letter to Morens, expressing concern about the obtained documents. Wenstrup pointed out that the documents indicate Morens may have used his personal email to evade transparency requirements and the FOIA, potentially deleted federal records intentionally, and acted in an official capacity to disparage fellow scientists while encouraging legal action against them. Wenstrup described the situation as troubling and raised serious questions that need to be addressed.
The select subcommittee has requested that Morens provide additional records, including those from his personal device, and participate in an interview.
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