Fauci under fire after new COVID emails released

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, faces renewed scrutiny by Republicans after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic combed through emails from Dr. David Morens, Fauci’s former senior adviser.

The committee, led by Republican Representative Brad Wenstrup, alleges evidence raises “serious questions as to whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of [The National Institutes of Health] NIH to hide official records related to the origins of COVID-19.”

Newsweek reached out to Wenstrup’s press team via email on Wednesday.

According to a press release from the select subcommittee on Wednesday, the emails suggest “Dr. Fauci was aware of Dr. Morens’ nefarious behavior and may have even engaged in federal records violations himself.”

Fauci, as the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, led the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. Over the years, some Republicans have accused him of failing to disclose the virus’ origins to the public and of covering it up. Several GOP leaders believe the virus originated from a scientific lab in Wuhan, China, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), rather than through species-to-species transmission, which is the most widely supported theory in the scientific community.

Subcommittee chairman Wenstrup has launched an almost yearlong investigation into the virus’ origins. On Wednesday, the subcommittee’s majority staff released a 35-page memo referencing thousands of email correspondences obtained under subpoena from Morens, who served as Fauci’s senior adviser from 1998 to 2022. Fauci previously testified in a closed-door hearing in January, and is slated to testify before the subcommittee on June 3.

The evidence, according to the 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.” FOIA allows the public to access records from federal agencies, with some exemptions regarding national security, personal privacy and other matters.

The committee cited emails such as one from Morens on April 21, 2021, to the president of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr. Peter Daszak, which stated, “PS, I forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony 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.” Exactly a month later, Morens sent an email, on which Daszak was copied, saying, “I suggested [he] try to interview Tony directly and connected him to our ‘secret’ back channel. He emailed Tony a few hours ago.”

Other emails by Morens repeatedly encouraged people 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.” Another email showed Morens asking Daszak for a “kick- back, for his help with an EcoHealth Alliance grant, and Daszak confirming, “of course there’s a kick-back.” Several emails show Morens making inappropriate and disrespectful comments.

In a press release, the committee said that the use of Fauci’s private email address and the “secret” back channel “raises serious questions as to whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy against the highest levels of NIH to hide official records related to the origins of COVID-19.” The emails also included that Morens was instructed on “how to make emails disappear after I am foia’d,” adding, “plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail.”

There is “overwhelming evidence” that Morens “engaged in serious misconduct and potentially illegal actions,” the subcommittee alleged in a press release Wednesday.

Tim Belevetz, Morens’ lawyer, told Newsweek in an email, “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.”

Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday to Georgetown University Medical Center’s communications team on behalf of Fauci, who holds a professorship there.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “David Morens is Anthony Fauci’s Michael Cohen, he’s the fixer.”

Bryce Nickels, Rutgers University professor of genetics, posted on X a screenshot of Morens’ email that “there is no worry about FOIAs,” with the caption, “Fauci is too smart for FOIAs. The corruption is astounding.”

TownHall.com columnist and legal analyst Phil Holloway wrote on X: “Fauci deleted records, used secret back channels to evade transparency … We on Team R told ya so in 2020, they called us conspiracy theorists.”

Fauci previously came under fire after it emerged that the NIH—of which he had been a key member since 1984 until last year—in 2014 gave U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance a $3.4 million grant, of which around $600,000 was sent to the WIV to study bat coronaviruses. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suspended funding to EcoHealth.

On Wednesday, Wenstrup commenced the subcommittee hearing with Morens by presenting the panel’s findings outlined in the memo. According to its press release, the chairman concluded his opening remarks “by emphasizing that the select subcommittee is working to ensure federal health officials never again feel empowered to subvert our elected government.”