Dr. David Morens used his personal email, newly obtained messages show, after saying he wanted to skirt federal transparency law.
A top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci secretly messaged a zoologist who funneled money from Dr. Fauci’s agency to a laboratory in the Chinese city where the first COVID-19 cases appeared, according to newly disclosed emails.
Dr. David Morens, the adviser, sent at least four messages to Peter Daszak, the zoologist, the emails show. Images of the email headers were obtained and released by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Dr. Morens, who was messaging from his personal email, wrote to Mr. Daszak, the president of EcoHealth Alliance, and others on April 26, 2020; July 13, 2020; and Feb. 20, 2022. At least three of the messages were about
a grant from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to EcoHealth to study bat coronaviruses. Money from that grant was funneled by EcoHealth to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“Please read and acknowledge receipt -- Actions needed regarding 2R01AI110964-06,” the subject line of one message stated.
In another, Dr. Morens was responding after Mr. Daszak told him an NIAID grant officer said “he’s unable to talk with me anymore about our suspended [grant].”
The grant was suspended on April 24, 2020, by former President Donald Trump’s administration after the COVID-19 pandemic started. President Joe Biden’s administration
restored funding in 2023, although it
suspended and later
banned the Wuhan lab from receiving money.
An inspector general determined in
a 2023 report that EcoHealth and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) failed to properly monitor research being done in Wuhan. EcoHealth also failed to obtain documents the NIH requested following the emergence of COVID-19, which EcoHealth blamed on a lack of cooperation from Chinese officials. The NIH is the NIAID’s parent agency.
Dr. Morens in
a previously released email said that he “retained very few emails or documents” on the origins of COVID-19 “and continue to request that correspondence on sensitive issues be sent to me at my gmail address.” He said
in another email that “I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly“ and that ”I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”
The newly acquired emails, sourced from a whistleblower, show “further attempts by Dr. Morens to subvert public transparency,” Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the subcommittee,
said on April 11.
He was writing to Dr. Gerald Keusch, director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Institute at Boston University.
Dr. Keusch was part of the emails between Dr. Morens and Mr. Daszak.
Dr. Wenstrup asked Dr. Keusch to provide all communications between Dr. Keusch and Dr. Morens about the origins of COVID-19, EcoHealth, or the Wuhan lab, in addition to communications between Dr. Keusch and government agencies on the same topics.
Dr. Keusch and Dr. Morens did not respond to requests for comment.
EcoHealth
later released the emails, which the group said “show clearly that EcoHealth Alliance was appropriately communicating with senior staff at the NIH, or who formerly worked at NIH, to try to identify ways to reinstate a grant that had been terminated unexpectedly and arbitrarily, then suspended with onerous conditions.”
Some experts and government agencies believe that COVID-19 originated at the Wuhan lab, which was
conducting risky experiments on coronaviruses. Some others favor the natural origin theory. No animal intermediary has been identified as of yet.
Dr. Morens answered questions from the House subcommittee in January. According to
a readout of the interview, Dr. Morens said Mr. Daszak is a close friend. He said that he “stood with 100% certainty behind the zoonotic origin of COVID-19, ”even though he acknowledged not exploring any evidence supporting the lab theory. Dr. Morens also denied deleting material on the origins of COVID-19 or making attempts to skirt the Freedom of Information Act.
“The select subcommittee has serious questions about the legitimacy of these claims,” the panel said at the time. “Chairman Wenstrup plans to receive access to Dr. Morens’s personal email account.”
