Republicans escalate COVID origins probe by slapping Dr. Fauci's top aide with ... trends now
Republicans have escalated their investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by sending a subpoena to a former top aide of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Last week, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic revealed that Dr. David Morens - Fauci's top aide at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - allegedly used his personal Gmail account to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to skirt federal transparency laws.
At the time, Morens' official government work email would have been subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that could have publicized his day-to-day communications.
The subcommittee's chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said that Morens used Gmail to 'intentionally [subvert] federal transparency laws to shield discussions related to the origins of COVID-19.'
Now, Wenstrup has sent a subpoena to Morens demanding he turn over documents from his personal email account about COVID-19, coronavirus grant funding and his communications with Fauci and former NIH Director Francis Collins, among other top health officials.
A whistleblower provided evidence to Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, alleging that Dr. David Morens used his personal Gmail account to communicate about the COVID-19 pandemic. Morens' official work email is subject to Freedom of Information Act requests
Morens was a senior advisor to former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci during the pandemic, and according to his LinkedIn account he still works there in the same capacity
The committee subpeonad documents relating to Morens' communications with former NIH Director Francis Collins (Left) and former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci (Right)
Wenstrup is requesting the material be sent by April 30.
The Ohio Republican previously said a whistleblower provided him the materials indicating Morens' use of his personal email.
Those whistleblower-provided emails show Morens using an '@gmail.com' account to correspond with Dr. Peter Daszak, head of EcoHealth Alliance, a research nonprofit, regarding a government research grant.
In a batch of documents released last week by EcoHealth, Daszak emailed Morens saying 'we'll communicate with you via Gmail from now on,' before later mentioning having '15,000 samples in freezers in Wuhan,' that could help them 'do the full genomes of 700+ [coronaviruses].'
Another email shows Morens appearing to disclose Fauci's attempts to provide 'damage control' for EcoHealth.
'Tony is now fully aware I think and is I am told involved in some sort of damage control,' Morens told Daszak.
Republicans previously revealed that EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), submitted a proposal to federal officials seeking funding to create a novel coronavirus in 2018.
And Wenstrup has accused EcoHealth of using taxpayer dollars 'to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.'
'These emails raise serious concerns about federal health officials potentially covering up the pandemic’s origin,' Wenstrup stated previously.
In the email above, Daszak can be seen telling Morens about 15,000 samples in a Wuhan lab that could help them map the genome for over 700 coronaviruses
The subject line of one of the messages between Morens' personal email and EcoHealth's Daszak includes a reference to a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant proposal that read more from dailymail.....
