A government watchdog has called on the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to investigate alleged transparency law violations by a senior advisor to Anthony Fauci.
On Wednesday, the non-profit group Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) requested the HHS inspector general probe Dr. David Morens, a senior advisor at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A memo released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic in May suggested Morens improperly deleted records and collaborated with agency officials to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
“I learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia’d,” Morens wrote in one email, and mentioned a “‘secret’ back channel” to communicate with Fauci in another.
“Dr. Morens took it upon himself to reach out to NIH/NIAID’s FOIA contacts and apparently devised methods for effectively shielding his communications from disclosure under FOIA,” wrote PPT Director Michael Chamberlain in a letter to the HHS inspector general. “If that were not enough, it appears as though Dr. Morens sought to rope others into this scheme, establishing a ‘secret back channel’ through which he and his colleagues could communicate for the explicit purpose of making their communications fall outside the scope of what is traditionally subject to disclosure under FOIA.”
When he testified on Capitol Hill last month, Morens laughed off lawmakers’ questions related to the allegations of ethical misconduct.
“I was not aware that anything I deleted like emails was a federal record,” said Morens.
Chamberlain said the emails released by House investigators leave the HHS inspector general “no choice but to investigate.”
“The conduct described clearly violates the standards expected of public servants and is possibly illegal under FOIA,” Chamberlain said in a statement. “The grim stakes of the pandemic make learning why they needed such secrecy a matter of life and death.”
Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, distanced himself from the controversy surrounding Morens when he testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday.
“I do not do government business on my private email,” Fauci said, denying the existence of a “back channel” to communicate with government colleagues.
Lawmakers also questioned Fauci about his advocacy for social lockdowns and his repeated dismissal of alternative theories for the outbreak, including the possibility of a lab accident.
“Do you agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory?” asked Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
“Not on my part,” Fauci said.
Documents released by House investigators last year, however, show Fauci and his NIH colleagues were eager to suppress the lab leak theory as a “conspiracy.”
Rep. Jim Jordan: “You agree that there was a push to downplay the lab leak theory?”
Fauci: “None on my part.”
Rep. Jim Jordan: “Really? Wow.” pic.twitter.com/X4ZYBzOuCb
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 3, 2024
Rep. Richard McCormick, R-Ga., confronted Fauci with his own statements recorded in an audiobook. In it, Fauci explained how governments, schools, and corporations could make life “difficult” for those choosing different medical treatments for Covid compared to untested injections.
“Once people feel empowered and protected legally, you are going to have schools, universities, and colleges are going to say, ‘You want to come to this college buddy, you’re going to get vaccinated, lady, you’re going to get vaccinated,’” Fauci said in the recorded interview played at Monday’s hearing. “Big corporations like Amazon and Facebook, and all those others, are going to say ‘You want to work for us, get vaccinated.’ It’s proven that when you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological resistance and get vaccinated.”
.@RepMcCormick to Fauci: “You’ve inspired and created fear through mass mandates, school closures, vaccine mandates that have destroyed the American people’s trust in our public health institutions.” pic.twitter.com/N2BAeWIJQh
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 3, 2024
“You affected people’s ability to work, travel, be educated, to actually flourish in America, to self-determine, as well as their God-given rights,” McCormick told Fauci. “You inspired and created fear through mask mandates, school closures, vaccine mandates that have destroyed the American people’s trust in our public health institutions. This fear you created will continue to have ripple effects over generations to come.”
