Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is formally calling for an investigation into accusations of improper concealment and destruction of COVID-19 origin records by Dr. David Morens, a top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday. Citing emails obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the letter presents “significant evidence” suggesting Morens may have violated federal law by hiding and erasing records related to the origins of COVID-19 to avoid leaks through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Paul alleges that “newly revealed emails suggest a broader conspiracy within the NIH FOIA office to assist Dr. Morens in unlawfully destroying records and evading public records laws.” Fauci has repeatedly publicly repudiated theories suggesting a lab leak as the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emails recently released between Morens and the president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-governmental organization funded to conduct coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, were investigated by House lawmakers last week. NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak testified that Morens allegedly deleted emails to thwart the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19. “Don’t worry, just send to any of my addresses, and I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.” During the hearing, Tabak informed Republican House Oversight Chairman James Comer that Morens purportedly breached NIH policy by deleting emails after public records requests. “Dr. David Morens, a senior advisor to Fauci for decades, wrote in an email to Dr. Daszak, ‘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.’ Is that consistent with NIH document retention policies?” Comer asked Tabak, to which he responded that it is not. Morens also allegedly shared internal questions about upcoming FOIA releases with Dr. Daszak and helped craft responses to documents being released in these FOIAs. In other emails, Morens expressed concern over what was sent to his work email and what was sent to his personal email, assuring those on the email chain that he would “delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.” “As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly,” Morens wrote in a September 2021 email, which was sent at the time to many scientists involved in the debate over the origins of COVID. “Stuff sent to my gmail gets to my phone … but not my NIH computer.” “Don’t worry, just send to any of my addresses, and I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times,” he added in the email. Fox News Digital has reached out to the NIH and Garland for comment.
Rand Paul Calls for Justice Department Investigation into COVID-19 Origin Documents
