Former National Institutes of Health official Anthony Fauci distanced himself from an aide’s email scandal during a Monday morning hearing before Congress.
David Morens, a longtime senior adviser to Fauci, turned over thousands of emails to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic earlier this year, many of which detailed his efforts to circumvent open records laws.
Morens wrote in private emails turned over to the committee that he deleted information that could be subject to a freedom of information request and also suggested that Fauci was trying to “protect” the scientist Peter Daszak, who has been cut off from federal funding.
While Morens implied that he spoke regularly with Fauci and even that he could walk into his office or deliver materials to his home in order to avoid leaving a paper trail, Fauci told members of Congress those statements are not accurate.
Fauci answered “yes” when asked if using personal email for official business violates NIAID policy and when asked if deleting official records to avoid transparency laws violates policy.
“He should not have been doing that,” Fauci said. On Morens’s claims that Fauci tried to protect Daszak, the scientist said, “I don’t know where he got that, but that’s not true.”
Fauci and Morens worked in separate office buildings, he told the committee, and Morens did not regularly attend meetings of NIAID leadership.
“Dr. Morens testified that he could walk into your office anytime he wanted to, is that true?” Rep. James Comer (R-KY) asked.
“No. That’s not true,” Fauci answered. “You don’t just walk into the office.”
Republicans on the committee are now attempting to get Fauci’s private email and phone records in the wake of the Morens findings. During the hearing, he denied ever using those for government work.
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“Let me state for the record that to the best of my knowledge I have never conducted official business using my personal email,” he said. “I do not do government business on my private email.”
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Fauci’s counsel to ask if he plans to comply with requests for his email records.
