Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) sent a letter to the Department of Justice, urging them to open a formal investigation into Dr. David Morens for the alleged “improper concealment and intentional destruction of records.”
Morens, a former top aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci and current Senior Advisor to the Director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is accused of engaging in corrupt behavior to skirt the rules on various issues, the least of which involved investigations from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. It is believed that Morens engaged in a cover-up and destroyed vital records and communications related to the investigation.
“I write to urge the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to open an investigation into the alleged improper concealment and intentional destruction of records by Dr. David Morens, Senior Advisor to the Director at the National Institutes of Health (NIH),” Paul wrote in his letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “Additionally, I request you investigate allegations that employees within NIH’s FOIA office may have conspired with Dr. Morens to evade public records retention laws.”
In the letter, Paul cited a statute that states that any person who “‘willfully and unlawfully’ conceals, removes, or destroys a federal record can be fined and imprisoned for up to three years.” Furthermore, Paul highlighted that this applied to anyone who tries to “conceal, remove, or destroy a federal record.”
Additionally, Morens is suspected of using a personal email account in lieu of an authorized government account so he could discuss matters related to the pandemic and, as the Washington Examiner previously reported, avoid any scrutiny and accountability through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Paul’s letter is of utmost importance because he is trying to hold potentially corrupt bureaucrats accountable. The junior senator from Kentucky has been leading the charge to expose disreputable government officials who operated as if they were above the law during the pandemic. Such people used the chaos associated with a once-in-a-lifetime worldwide emergency to violate rules and regulations, believing they would never be held accountable.
Such people clearly forgot about the ethos of Paul.
Consider some of the contents of Moren’s emails that Paul highlighted in the letter to the Department of Justice. They displayed a startling lack of corrupt arrogance by Morens and an egregious revelation of intentionally duplicitous actions.
“Emails obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic provide significant evidence that Dr. Morens unlawfully destroyed federal records relating to the origins of COVID-19 and improperly used his personal email address to evade federal records laws,” Paul wrote. “For example, Dr. Morens wrote, ‘[a]s you know, I try to always communicate on Gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly.’”
Additionally, Paul mentioned an incident in which Morens claimed his personal email “had been compromised by a security breach” and he had to make other arrangements to communicate via email, stating “[d] on’t worry, just send to any of my addresses and I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”
“Moreover, newly revealed emails suggest a broader conspiracy within the NIH FOIA office to assist Dr. Morens in unlawfully destroying records and evading public records laws,” Paul wrote. “In an email to Peter Daszak, Dr. Morens wrote, ‘I learned from our NIH FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA but before the search starts so I think we’re all safe. Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.’ He also wrote, ‘[w]e are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns and if we did we wouldn’t put them in emails. And if we found them we’d delete them.’”
Paul should be applauded for his efforts to hold Morens accountable. The evidence laid out in this letter is unquestionably damning. It’s hard to suggest that Morens did not knowingly try to deceive and illegally hide his communications.
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Morens knew what he was trying to do. Paul just caught him doing it.
If Merrick Garland does indeed have any integrity, he will launch the investigation that Paul requested.
