House COVID-19 Committee Chairman Brad Wenstrup on Wednesday requested access to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci's cellphone and personal email records.
The request comes ahead of Fauci's planned testimony next week, in front of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Wenstrup said there is new evidence that suggests Fauci used his personal email and cellphone for government communication.
The request comes after Fauci’s Senior Advisor Dr. David Morens emailed former EcoHealth President Dr. Peter Daszak and stated that he could send messages to Fauci privately to dodge Freedom of Information Act requests.
“I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work," Morens wrote in the email, dated 2021. "He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble."
Wenstrup said the new information was concerning, and has prompted an investigation into a "secret back channel" Morens also alluded to in a separate email.
"This new evidence raises additional, serious concerns about public health officials purposefully concealing information and behaving as if they are unaccountable to the American people they serve," Wenstrup wrote in a press release.
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