The suit was filed after the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID – part of the NIH and a component of HHS) failed to respond to a May 23, 2024, FOIA request for records on:
1. Dr. David Morens, former top Scientific Advisor to retired NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and current Senior Advisor at NIH, soliciting help, advice, or assistance in any manner from any employee of the NIAID or NIH’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office including a) Margeret Moore b) Robin Schofield c) Marianne Manheim to circumvent, avoid (i.e. through use of private email, phone calls, deleting emails, etc.), or otherwise not respond in accordance with FOIA laws and regulations to FOIA requests.
2. Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired NIAID Director, NIH, soliciting help, advice, or assistance in any manner from any employee of the NIAID or NIH’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office including a) Margeret Moore b) Robin Schofield c) Marianne Manheim to circumvent, avoid (i.e. through use of private email, phone calls, deleting emails, etc.), or otherwise not respond in accordance with FOIA laws and regulations to FOIA requests.
3. Communications between NIH and/or NIAD FOIA employees, including a) Marianne Manheim; b) Robin Schofield; c) Karen Lampe; concerning withholding information requested through FOIA regarding EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and/or the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
4. Communications of Dr. David Morens, including use of private email, or advising anyone (internal or external to NIH) to communicate using private email channels (i.e. gmail) to conduct official government business when discussing the “Daszak Grant”, “COVID”, “EcoHealth Alliance”, “EHA”, “secret”, “kickbacks”, “Trump”, “Tony”, “WIV”, or the “Wuhan Institute of Virology”. This paragraph includes communications with a) Dr. Anthony Fauci, email domains.@nih.gov or @gmail.com b) Dr. Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance email domain @ecohealthalliance.org c) Dr. Gerald Keusch, Boston University email domain @bu.edu d) Rich Roberts, New England Biolabs email domain @neb.com e) Jay Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine email domain @bcm.edu e) Tom Monath, Croze Biopharma, email domain @crozebiopharma.com f) James LeDuc, University of Texas Medical Branch, email domain @utmb.edu g) Laura Kramer, NY Health Department, email domain @health.ny.gov h) Nancye Green, Donovan Green Health, email domain@dgtwo.com.
5. Communications of Dr. David Morens with any employee at EcoHealth Alliance (email domain: @ecohealthalliance.org) regarding how to respond to NIH compliance efforts, requests, or investigations, concerning the NIH grant with EcoHealth Alliance.
6. Communications of Dr. Anthony Fauci, including using a private email, or advising anyone (internal or external to NIH) to communicate using private email channels (i.e. gmail) to conduct official government business when discussing the “Daszak Grant”, “COVID”, “EcoHealth Alliance”, “EHA”, “secret”, “kickbacks”, “Trump”, “Tony” “WIV”, or the “Wuhan Institute of Virology”. This paragraph includes communications with a) Dr. Anthony Fauci, email domains.@nih.gov or @gmail.com b) Dr. Peter Daszak, EcoHealth Alliance email domain @ecohealthalliance.org c) Dr. Gerald Keusch, Boston University email domain @bu.edu d) Rich Roberts, New England Biolabs email domain @neb.com e) Jay Peter Hotez, Baylor College of Medicine email domain @bcm.edu e) Tom Monath, Croze Biopharma, email domain @crozebiopharma.com f) James LeDuc, University of Texas Medical Branch, email domain @utmb.edu g) Laura Kramer, NY Health Department, email domain @health.ny.gov h) Nancye Green, Donovan Green Health, email domain@dgtwo.com.
On May 22, 2024, Morens testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at a hearing titled “A Hearing with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Senior Scientific Advisor, Dr. David Morens,” in which it was reported:
Evidence obtained by the Select Subcommittee shows Dr. Morens unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, shared nonpublic information about National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant processes with his “best-friend” EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak, and likely lied to Congress multiple times.
In prepared remarks by House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup, he notes:
We have evidence that Dr. Morens purposefully evaded public transparency required by the Freedom of Information Act by intentionally using a personal email account for official business.
We have evidence that Dr. Morens unlawfully deleted government records and may have engaged with the NIH FOIA office to assist this illegal action.
We have evidence that Dr. Morens routinely acted as an intermediary between Dr. Daszak and Dr. Fauci.
And we have evidence that Dr. Morens took affirmative steps to assist Dr. Daszak so that EcoHealth could have its grant reinstated after it was suspended under the Trump Administration.
Margeret Moore, who is cited in the Judicial Watch records requests, seems to be the so-called “FOIA Lady,” who allegedly advised Morens on how to circumvent FOIA and avoid responding to FOIA requests. She was then (now retired) NIAID’s FOIA public liaison whose official responsibilities included: “assisting in reducing delays; increasing transparency and understanding of the status of requests; and resolving disputes between you and the agency.” In two emails from February 24 and 25, 2021, which were subpoenaed by the Pandemic Subcommittee, Morens writes:
2/24/21 to a redacted recipient at a gmail address: … I learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after I am foia’d but before the search starts, so I think we are all safe. Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail. D.
2/25/21 to Gerald Keusch at a Boston University email address and cc’d to Peter Daszak and another redacted recipient at EcoHealth Alliance: … I learned the tricks last year from an old friend, Marg Moore, who leads our FOIA office and also hates FOIAs.
Also on May 22, the Select Subcommittee issued a memo titled “Allegations of Wrongdoing and Illegal Activity by Dr. David Morens, Senior Advisor to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases former Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci,” in which it is noted that Morens initially responded to a request for records with 2,000 responsive pages and after a being subpoenaed supplied approximately 30,000 more pages of records:
Evidence in possession of the Select Subcommittee suggests that Dr. Morens knowingly transmitted official records to Dr. Fauci via his personal e-mail. If true, this raises serious questions of whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of NIAID to hide official records regarding the origins of COVID-19.
The following day, the committee issued a “hearing wrap up” regarding Morens’ testimony:
Evidence obtained by the Select Subcommittee prior to the hearing showed that Dr. Morens … deliberately obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 to protect Dr. Fauci, unlawfully deleted federal COVID-19 records, and shared nonpublic information about National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant processes with his “best-friend” EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak. Dr. Morens’s testimony confirmed these discoveries and proved that he clearly believes the laws of the federal government do not apply to him. Members used Dr. Morens’s own emails as evidence of his misconduct and pressed Dr. Morens to explain why he displayed such contempt for the American people while serving as a senior official at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Fauci operation seems to have had contempt for the public’s right to know about what exactly it was up to regarding Covid,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “There was obviously a systematic attempt by HHS bureaucrats to circumvent FOIA requests during the Covid era. This new lawsuit can further help undo this cover-up.”
Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuits and investigations have uncovered much of what the public knows about many Covid-19 controversies:
- In June 2024, Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for records from the Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) regarding after action reports, review of procedures, or studies concerning the preparation for and response to the Covid-19 pandemic
- In April 2024, Judicial Watch uncovered FBI records that showed an April 2020 email exchange with several officials in the bureau’s Newark Field Office referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China as including “gain-of-function research” which “would leave no signature of purposeful human manipulation.”
- Emails between U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and top Facebook executives in 2021 regarding the censorship of user posts about Covid controversies showed Facebook leadership seeking to “better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.”
- Records from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that a Pfizer study surveyed 23 people in 2021 to gauge reactions to its Covid vaccine booster before asking the FDA to approve it.
- Records from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) included the initial grant application and annual reports to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from EcoHealth Alliance, describing the aim of its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to create mutant viruses “to better predict the capacity of our CoVs [coronaviruses] to infect people.”
- HHS records included emails of then-Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins showing a British physicians’ group recommended the use of Ivermectin to prevent and treat Covid-19.
- Heavily redacted HHS records showed that just two days prior to FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine a discussion was held between U.S. and UK health regulators regarding the Covid shot and “anaphylaxis,” with the regulators emphasizing their “mutual confidentiality agreement.”
- Judicial Watch obtained HHS records regarding data Moderna submitted to the FDA on its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, which indicated a “statistically significant” number of rats were born with skeletal deformations after their mothers were injected with the vaccine. The documents also revealed Moderna elected not to conduct a number of standard pharmacological studies on the laboratory test animals.
- Heavily redacted records from the FDA regarding the Covid-19 booster vaccine detailed pressure on Covid booster use and approval.
- HHS records detailed internal discussions about myocarditis and the Covid vaccine. Other documents detailed adverse “events for which a contributory effect of the vaccine could not be excluded.”
- Judicial Watch uncovered HHS records detailing the extensive media plans for a Biden administration propaganda campaign to push the Covid-19 vaccine.
- HHS records revealed previously redacted locations of Covid-19 vaccine testing facilities in Shanghai, China. The FDA had claimed the name and location of the testing facilities were protected by the confidential commercial information exemption of the FOIA.
- NIH records showed an FBI “inquiry” into the NIH’s controversial bat coronavirus grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The records also showed National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) officials were concerned about “gain-of-function” research in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2016. The Fauci agency was also concerned about EcoHealth Alliance’s lack of compliance with reporting rules and use of gain-of-function research in the NIH-funded research involving bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China.
- Texas Public Information Act (PIA) records showed the former director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Dr. James W. Le Duc, warned Chinese researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology of potential investigations into the Covid issue by Congress.
- HHS records regarding biodistribution studies and related data for the Covid-19 vaccines showed how a key component of the vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), were found outside the injection site, mainly the liver, adrenal glands, spleen and ovaries of test animals, eight to 48 hours after injection.
- Records obtained from HHS through a FOIA lawsuit related to hydroxychloroquine and Covid-19 revealed that a grant to EcoHealth Alliance was cancelled because of press reports that a portion of the grant was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
- HHS records revealed that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the NIAID.
- NIAID records showed that it gave nine China-related grants to EcoHealth Alliance to research coronavirus emergence in bats and was the NIH’s top issuer of grants to the Wuhan lab itself. The records also included an email from the vice director of the Wuhan Lab asking an NIH official for help finding disinfectants for decontamination of airtight suits and indoor surfaces.
- HHS records included an “urgent for Dr. Fauci” email chain, citing ties between the Wuhan lab and the taxpayer-funded EcoHealth Alliance. The government emails also reported that the foundation of U.S. billionaire Bill Gates worked closely with the Chinese government to pave the way for Chinese-produced medications to be sold outside China and help “raise China’s voice of governance by placing representatives from China on important international counsels as high level commitment from China.”
- Judicial Watch’s four-part documentary regarding the coordinated effort by the government and Big Tech to censor and suppress information on topics such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, Covid-19, and election debates is available here.
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