© Getty ImagesDr. David Morens, scientific adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during an appearance on C-SPAN | Anthony Fauci (inset)
Politicians, of course, hate that kind of accountability. And every so often, they get caught hiding their official correspondence from FOIA requesters. Hillary Clinton's attempts to stash State Department emails on a private server were a major scandal during the 2016 election. Last week, FOIA became a part of the controversy surrounding coronavirus origins.
In emails uncovered by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic last week, government scientist David Morens apparently plotted with a FOIA officer at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on how to hide his emails. Morens, an adviser to former NIH official and White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci, wrote in February 2021 that "i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia'd but before the search starts. Plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail."
Comment: Dr. Fauci's lieutenant on the hot seat