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WASHINGTON — Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted in newly released diary entries to having several private discussions with a since-indicted adviser whom he disavowed before Congress in June 2024.
For years, Fauci faced intense political and scientific backlash over US funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology — but denied that such experiments for so-called “gain of function” research, which can increase the transmissibility or infectiousness of viruses, ever occurred.
The then-NIAID chief also testified that he had no knowledge of his longtime senior adviser David Morens — who was indicted in May of this year for concealing and deleting federal records — operating a “‘secret’ back channel” on his behalf to evade Freedom of Information Act requests.
But in the diary entries, which were released by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Saturday, Fauci wrote to himself that he was “going to arrange for a phone call with David in order to determine more details as to what is going on,” when referencing claims that he signed off on grants that could have led to the creation of COVID-19, which may have later escaped from WIV.
“It appears that a few of the far right grantees of NIAID are joining with the radical right wing people in the public as well as people in the Congress such as congressman Jim Jordan and Senator Rand Paul to try and connect me with the virus from WUHAN,” he noted.
“In fact, David Morens has heard that these people are trying to ‘bring me down’ .. They are saying that I deliberately worked with the Chinese together with Peter Daszak to create a virus that would be released to the world,” he added.
When testifying before a House subcommittee on June 3, 2024, Fauci told lawmakers, “With respect to his recent testimony before this Subcommittee, I knew nothing of Dr. Morens’s actions regarding Dr. Daszak, EcoHealth, or his emails.”
“It is important to point out for the record that, despite his title, functionally Dr. Morens was not an adviser to me on institute policy or other substantive issues,” he added.
Other messages in the diary, however, highlighted how Fauci was speaking with Morens and Jeffery Taubenberger, who became the acting NIAID head last year under President Trump, about the importance of “systemic vaccination” for the US populace.
Emails that later led to Morens’ indictment — and which were first reported by The Post — revealed in May 2024 that the former NIAID director had “back channel” talks with Morens and allegedly passed on information about EcoHealth Alliance’s $4 million grant that included funding for the WIV.
“There are things I can’t say except Tony is aware and I have learned that there are ongoing efforts within NIH to steer this through with minimal damage to you, Peter, and colleagues, and to NIH and NIAID,” Morens wrote to EcoHealth President Peter Daszak on April 26, 2020, email from a private account.
“[T]here is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony on his private Gmail [sic], or hand it to him at work or at his house,” Morens also wrote in one April 21, 2021, email. “He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
Fauci is scheduled to testify before Paul’s Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.
An attorney for Morens declined to comment. Fauci’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
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