On Wednesday, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) announced a subpoena to compel Dr. David Morens — a top advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — to appear for a public hearing on May 22, 2024. Dr. Morens will be asked to address new evidence suggesting he deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigations into the origins of COVID-19 to protect his former boss, Dr. Fauci.
In new emails obtained by the Select Subcommittee, Dr. Morens’s self-proclaimed “best friend” — EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak — lays out the delay tactics Dr. Morens’s counsel intended to use to postpone Dr. Morens’s public testimony until after Dr. Fauci’s public hearing: “Each day of delay helps. They’re trying to book David in for a public hearing between mine (May 1st) and Fauci’s (June 3rd). David’s lawyers are trying to negotiate and delay his til after Tony.” This email was sent on April 20, 2024.
Only two days later, on April 22, 2024, Dr. Morens’s attorney followed this exact plan and told Select Subcommittee staff that Dr. Morens was “unavailable” to appear for a public hearing on the offered date of May 7, 2024. The attorney provided four alternative dates — all of which Dr. Morens and his team seemingly understood to be unacceptable given the public Congressional and Select Subcommittee schedule.
Dr. Morens’s evasion of public testimony “appears to be a poorly veiled attempt to protect Dr. Fauci, insulate him from the actions the Select Subcommittee is investigating, and obstruct the Select Subcommittee’s investigation,” wrote Chairman Wenstrup in a subpoena cover letter to Dr. Morens.
This is the second subpoena the Select Subcommittee has announced for Dr. David Morens. The first subpoena compelled Dr. Morens to produce documents from his personal email account(s) related to the origins of COVID-19 after repeated allegations that he violated federal records-keeping laws.
Read the Select Subcommittee’s cover letter here and subpoena here.
In June 2023, the Select Subcommittee released a batch of emails in which Dr. Morens appears to hide COVID-19 information. Dr. Morens wrote, “I always try to communicate over gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly” and “I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”
Following a letter from the Select Subcommittee detailing Dr. Morens’ potential federal records violation, NIH placed him on administrative leave. In October of 2023, Wenstrup announced a subpoena for NIH records related to the potential violation. NIH conducted an internal investigation into Morens’ actions, but refused to share findings with Americans or Congress.
In November of 2023, EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak called Morens a “mentor” in a transcribed interview. A month later, Morens was scheduled for a transcribed interview, but HHS derailed the interview by prohibiting Morens from answering questions about COVID origins.
In January 2024, Dr. Morens appeared for a transcribed interview — after which Chairman Wenstrup vowed to receive access to Dr. Morens’s personal email account. Key takeaways from the transcribed interview can be found here.
In April 2024, the Select Subcommittee revealed new information from a whistleblower that appeared to provide further evidence of Dr. Morens intentionally subverting federal transparency laws to shield discussions related to the origins of COVID-19. The next day, EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak released four document tranches that confirmed the whistleblower’s allegations.
Also in April 2024, Chairman Wenstrup announced the first subpoena to Dr. Morens that compelled him to produce documents from his personal email account(s) related to the origins of COVID-19.
