Judicial Watch announced today that it and the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 300 pages of emails of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including his approval of a press release supportive of China’s response to the 2019 novel coronavirus.
On January 27, 2020, the World Health Organization/World Bank convened the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB). The following day, the GPMB Secretariat writes an email with the subject line “TIME SENSITIVE Message from GPMB Co-Chairs: review of draft GPMB Statement on 2019-novel coronavirus:”
There was consensus for the GPMB to issue a statement supportive of countries’ (especially China) and WHO response efforts, and to call for urgent actions to further strengthen global preparedness and response to this outbreak.
Please find attached a draft GPMB Statement.
On January 29, Fauci responds:
Looks fine. Please see my comments in attached document.
Thanks,
Tony
The emails were produced in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed May 4, 2020, on behalf of the DCNF in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Daily Caller News Foundation v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:20-cv-01149)). The lawsuit was filed after HHS failed to respond to an April 1, 2020, FOIA request from the DCNF asking for:
- Communications between Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane and World Health Organization officials concerning the novel coronavirus.
- Communications of Dr. Fauci and Deputy Director Lane concerning WHO, WHO official Bruce Aylward, WHO Director General Tedros Anhanom, and China.
The time period for the request is January 1, 2020 to April 1, 2020.
Many of the emails consist of missives to large groups of recipients, including Fauci, from Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, which describes itself as “an independent monitoring and accountability body to ensure preparedness for global health crises” convened by the World Health Organization and the World Bank
· On January 28, 2020, in an effort to organize a joint statement among international organizations on “sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (nCoV),” GPMB’s Jeremy Farrar emails upwards of three dozen, mostly redacted recipients, including the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Francis Collins, and cc’ing Fauci, sending them all a proposed joint statement, which is completely redacted in the documents provided by HHS, for their review and approval. Shortly thereafter, Collins responds: “NIH is happy to endorse the joint statement.” That same day, Professor Stewart Cole, President of the Institut Pasteur emails Farrar: “Thanks for the initiative. Pasteur is on board and fully supportive.” A subsequent statement, which was published two days later on January 30, says:
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) convened on 27 January 2020 to discuss the current outbreak of 2019-nCoV which was first detected in Wuhan, China and is now quickly spreading internationally. The Board commends the speed of the response so far by countries and the World Health Organization (WHO), the transparency of China in sharing information and the genome sequence of the virus, and the strong collaboration between China and affected countries and with WHO.
· On February 1, 2020, the chief scientist at the WHO emailed Fauci to let him know the WHO was organizing a global research partners forum on February 11 and to ask him to attend, also suggesting he might think about funding and/or undertaking research on this “new viral outbreak:”
As the head of an agency that would play an important role in addressing this new viral outbreak, either by undertaking or funding research, or both, I take great pleasure in inviting you to this meeting.
· On February 4, Hilary Marston from NIH replied to the WHO’s invitation to a coronavirus forum, begging off on behalf of Fauci: “First, as to your kind invitation to have him join the meeting, unfortunately his time is entirely consumed as central member of the US government response team and he will be unable to travel.” She went on to recommend several individuals Fauci wanted to attend the meeting in his stead.
· On February 13, 2020, it appears that National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects Dr. Cliff Lane was en route to Japan to “assist with rapid implementation of a study of the drug remdesivir as a therapeutic intervention for COVID-19, within the context of the current cases in that country.” It appears that WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros invited him instead to come to China to participate in the WHO Mission there. Fauci’s Associate Director for International Research Affairs, Gray Handley, replied to a redacted recipient at WHO that Lane was unable to accept the WHO’s invitation to come to China: “Due to the importance of this study, Dr. Lane may not be available to participate in the WHO mission to be undertaken in China next week.”
It appears that when Fauci discovered what Handley had done, he countermanded his decision by having HHS Director of the Office of Global Affairs Garrett Grigbsy send an email informing two individuals, apparently at WHO, that Lane would be coming to China:
I just talked to Dr. Fauci and there must have been some communication mix up about Cliff.
Cliff Lane is absolutely going to China as part of the WHO team (if invited). [Emphasis in original]
· In one fundraising campaign, Ilona Kickbusch of GPMB sent an email to Victor Dzau on March 3, 2020 and cc’ed Anthony Fauci along with more than two dozen other, mostly redacted recipients under the Subject Line: “Re: GPMG: COVID-19 FUNDING NOTE,” Kickbusch says
Ahead of the GPMB Board call on Wednesday, I’m pleased to attach a note (on behalf of Jeremy Farrar, Victor Dzau and a small working group) setting out the urgent need for new funding for the global COVID-19 response.
You will have seen the strong announcement today from the World Bank of up to $12 bn to support country response, which we warmly welcome. We are asking for your feedback on the call and consideration for the GPMB to launch an “ask” this week regarding needs not likely to be covered by the World Bank announcement – this would target the leaders and policy makers of other financing institutions and G7/G20 nations…The aim of the note is to encourage an immediate and full response to the needs of the world, recognizing that many countries are not well prepared and could be left behind.
· On March 4, the GPMB group held a conference call with its board in preparation for making another $8 billion request to a group of international financial institutions. On March 5, Alex Harris, head of global policy and advocacy at Wellcome – a global charitable foundation, funded by a £26.8 billion investment portfolio that does grant funding, advocacy campaigns and partnerships to raise money for select clients (founded by the pharmaceutical entrepreneur, Sir Henry Wellcome) – emailed GPMB board members, including Dr. Fauci and included a lengthy list of “G7 leaders and Sherpas” and “International financial institutions:”
Thank you for your input on the call yesterday regarding the COVID-19 funding request that the GPMB will be making to multilateral financing institutions and G7/G20 nations.
In this regard I attach:
An updated background note revising the ask to $8bn as a result of removing the [redacted] we had previously included for strengthening country preparedness, given the World Bank announcement
“The government is now ever so slowly complying with the law and letting the American people know how they did business with the WHO and China at the outset of this pandemic,” said Daily Caller News Foundation President Neil Patel. “We are grateful to Judicial Watch for helping us force the government to do its job.”
“These Fauci emails show how praising China was the odd priority of the WHO in the face of a novel and dangerous coronavirus,” said Judicial Watch Tom Fitton. “That the NIH tried to slow-roll the release of these emails and is still sitting on thousands more is a scandal.”
On September 22, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ordered HHS to begin processing 300 pages of emails per month beginning on October 21. In a September 21 court filing, HHS said the agency could begin producing 300 pages of responsive records to the Daily Caller News Foundation beginning on November 30, eight months after receiving the Daily Caller’s request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The total number of responsive records is approximately 4,200, which would have pushed off the full release of the records until at least 2022. HHS also alleged that Fauci must personally review each one of his emails before they are released.
Author: Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch, Inc., a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. Through its educational endeavors, Judicial Watch advocates high standards of ethics and morality in our nation’s public life and seeks to ensure that political and judicial officials do not abuse the powers entrusted to them by the American people. Judicial Watch fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach. Visit Judicial Watch at https://www.judicialwatch.org/
