Agency Fauci Headed Hit With Watchdog Complaint

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, in Washington, on June 3, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

A watchdog filed a complaint on June 4 against the agency Dr. Anthony Fauci headed until 2022, pointing out that one official during Dr. Fauci’s tenure admitted to evading a federal law, while another apparently substituted letters with symbols to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Protect the Public’s Trust “requests that you investigate this apparently intentional pattern of evasion effectuated by NIH/NIAID employees,” Michael Chamberlain, director of the group, said in a letter to Christi Grimm, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is an agency within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is part of HHS. Dr. Fauci was the director of NIAID from 1984 to 2022.

Dr. David Morens, a senior adviser to the NIAID director, wrote in multiple emails obtained by the U.S. House of Representatives that he had learned how to evade requests made under FOIA, a law that enables people to ask for government documents.

“I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d but before the search starts, so I think we are all safe,” Dr. Morens wrote on Feb. 24, 2021. He identified the lady as Margaret Moore, who was the NIH’s top FOIA official.

In another email, Dr. Morens wrote: “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.”

A third message stated: “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.”

Greg Folkers, an aide to Dr. Fauci, in separate emails, used a dollar sign in the name of a scientist and a “~” symbol in the name of EcoHealth Alliance, the group that funneled NIAID grant money to a laboratory in China, in what House members said looked like a bid to evade FOIA.

FOIA requires that federal agencies release public records upon request, Protect the Public’s Trust noted in its complaint. The government has defined records as “any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, his education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and that contains his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print or a photograph.”

Another federal law prohibits destroying federal records. A third law bars conspiracy designed to defraud the United States. A fourth law prohibits falsifying, concealing, or covering up “any material fact” in any matter within the jurisdiction of the government of the United States.

Available evidence indicates Dr. Morens conspired with other government workers, such as Ms. Moore, to evade FOIA, according to the complaint.

Mr. Folkers also seems to have violated federal law. The watchdog called for an immediate investigation into the matter.

“In both documents and testimony, Dr. Morens admitted violations of public records obligations and, possibly, conspiracies to evade public records laws. The behavior described screams for an investigation to determine both the scope and breadth of misconduct,” Mr. Chamberlain told The Epoch Times via email.

“These were not just the actions of a government official, this was a doctor in the midst of one of the greatest public health crises in our nation’s history. Americans’ trust in our public health officials took a drubbing during the pandemic. We keep finding out how well-deserved it was.”

Dr. Davis Morens, a longtime adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, in Washington on May 22, 2024. (U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic via The Epoch Times)

The NIAID and NIH did not respond to requests for comment. Dr. Morens, Ms. Moore, and Mr. Folkers have not returned inquiries.

Dr. Morens told the House in May that he deleted emails, but not official ones.

Dr. Fauci this week disavowed Dr. Morens, claiming his former adviser violated federal rules, and said he did not know what the doctor was talking about in many of the messages.

Dr. Fauci said he may have used his personal email to communicate with Dr. Morens about writing medical papers together. He also said he never deleted official emails.

Members did not appear to ask him about Mr. Folkers or Ms. Moore.