#maryland “Don’t worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to [Fauci] on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house.” 78-year-old David M. Morens served as a senior scientific advisor in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 2006 to 2022. According to the indictment, Fauci’s advisor was part of a deliberate scheme during the height of the p*ndemic to hide what they knew, and what they discussed about c*vid research. Morens along with co-conspirators, including the head of a NGO research group who got federal funding, used Morens’s personal Gmail account instead of his official NIH email to talk about their research after the Trump administration yanked a major bat coronavirus grant – (Trump admin was concerned that C*VID-19 leaked from the lab so it terminated the grant) They also talked about sharing the information they knew with Fauci but making sure there wasn’t a paper trail or anyway the communications could be FOIAd It is widely believed that the head of the NGO is Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance. He’s referred to as “Co-Conspirator 1” and his organization as “Company #1” The indictment does not name him directly, but details match Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance exactly. In February 2021 – they talked about “making emails disappear’ Morens wrote to Peter Daszak (EcoHealth president) and others after a FOIA request hit: “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. Plus, I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.” The next day he added “But I learned the tricks last year from an old friend, Marg Moore, who heads our FOIA Office and also hates FOIAs.” April 2021 – “Covid schemes secret” – Back-channel to Fauci They were talking about how to share documents and information with Fauci (Tony) without creating a FOIA trail. Daszak: “Please feel free to share any docs that I’ve sent to you, with Tony. Hopefully you can do that in a way that avoids FoIA, and if not possible, just show him stuff on screen share on Zoom.” Daszak added: “Totally agree. Tell him I’m happy to speak with him at any time and will do so in a way that’s not FoIA-ble.” Morens: “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.” June 2021 – Deleting emails about origins of C*vid After an old Daszak email to Fauci surfaced via FOIA: “That email somehow fell into the hands of the Congressman, probably via a FOIA of someone who didn’t delete it, as I did (delete all of Peter’s emails and others relating to origin) when the sh*t started hitting the fan.” He added: “The best way to avoid FOIA hassles is to delete all emails when you learn a subject is getting sensitive…” Other emails included: “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.” (September 2021) “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 would delete them.” (June 2020) Morens also forwarded confidential NIH information to Daszak, edited letters on EcoHealth’s behalf, and discussed back-channeling updates to senior NIAID leadership (including Fauci). Details: They used Morens’s personal Gmail account to: Share secret, non-public information from inside NIH Plot ways to get the EcoHealth grant restored after the Trump administration canceled it Help write and edit official letters to NIH bosses on behalf of the company (EcoHealth) Pass private updates straight to Fauci and other top NIAID leaders through unofficial back channels to hid it. Basically, they were using a private email to hide what they were doing, get the grant back, do favors for Daszak’s group, and keep Fauci’s inner circle informed without leaving a government email trail that could be found through FOIA requests. He faces charges including conspiracy against the United States, destruction/alteration/falsification of records in federal investigations, concealment/removal/mutilation of records, and aiding and abetting. Republicans point out that Fauci’s inner circle, including senior advisor David Morens, immediately went into damage-control mode to help EcoHealth after funding was cut. The termination was not permanent at first, NIH reinstated the grant in July 2020 with stricter conditions, then suspended it again later. Full debarment of EcoHealth and Daszak came years later under different leadership. Conservatives say that Fauci had major influence over NIAID funding decisions and pandemic messaging, even if he wasn’t the literal NIH director saying Fauci protected his research networks instead of doing what was right for the American public.
