Fauci's right-hand man dumbfounded over deleted Wuhan COVID lab emails and 'disgusting' comments made towards women

Dr. Anthony Fauci's former top aide was dumbstruck during an intense grilling by Republicans over his efforts to cover up his emails discussing COVID origins.

Dr. David Morens was confronted about his 'intentional' efforts to subvert federal transparency laws when discussing COVID origins and links to a Wuhan, China, virology lab during a testy Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday.

He was also forced to apologize when confronted over 'disgusting' and misogynistic comments he made about women in his correspondence. 

His comments about Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Walensky - and how he believed she got the job because she 'wears skirts' - were put on blast.

'I find your comments to be disgusting,' Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, told Morens. 

Dr. David Morens apologized to lawmakers for intentionally deleting his emails about COVID-19 while serving as Dr. Anthony Fauci's top advisor and for making misogynistic comments about former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky 

His email insinuated Walensky only got her top job because she is a woman. 'You should be ashamed of your character and be embarrassed.' 

'It's a misogynistic statement and it was the same snarky joking stuff,' he retorted before Miller-Meeks exploded.

'Sir, that is not a snarky joke. That is an underlying behavior that indicates how you approach women and how you think of women - and its disgusting.' 

Earlier in the day, the committee released a trove of emails he made on a personal account to colleagues. They show Morens making additional inappropriate comments about women. 

'Beverage is always good, and best delivered by a blonde nymphomaniac, if you can manage that,' he wrote to Daszak in December 2020.

'Actually, at my age I’ll take a brunette. Even a red head. Any hair at all.'

To say the hearing was a disaster for Morens would be an understatement. 

Emails show Morens asked for a 'kickback' from his friend Daszak after his organization EcoHealth Alliance recieved $7.5 million in federal funding. Daszak said he would compensate the former Fauci aide, but when asked if he received anything, Morens said he got nothing

The former Fauci aide was forced to apologize repeatedly for his misogyny and for the reason he was actually testifying to in the first place - deleting emails to cover up a trial of communications between himself and Dr. Peter Daszak, a defamed coronavirus researcher at the center of the committee's COVID-19 origins investigation. 

Daszak and his organization - EcoHealth Alliance - were conducting research using funds from the National Institute of Health (NIH) in conjunction with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to study coronaviruses at the time COVID-19 began.  

EcoHealth's research is at the center of the committee's probe into the origins of the virus, as are key allies of Daszak, Morens and Fauci himself. 

The former Fauci advisor admitted to helping Daszak apply for federal funding and even asked him for a 'kickback' after the coronavirus researcher, who he said is a friend, received $7.5 million from the agency Morens oversees. 

'Do i get a kickback????? Too much fooking money! DO you deserve it all? Lets discuss,' Morens sent Daszak in an email.

'Of course there's a kick-back,' Daszak responded in an email revealed Wednesday. 

When pressed on the exchange by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Morens said he was just joking.  

'Um, that's typical black humor between people like Peter and me,' Morens responded.

Morens testified he had not received any compensation from EcoHealth or Daszak. 

Though several lawmakers on the committee appeared to not believe him. 

Morens suggested to Daszak he could send information to Fauci's personal email or deliver it personally to avoid transparency laws

EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak arrives for a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Capitol Hill on May 1, 2024 in Washington, DC. On Wednesday, the committee announced he is soon to be disbarred by HHS from getting any more money from the U.S. government

Also on Wednesday, the committee revealed that after a review by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) EcoHealth and Daszak are now barred from ever gaining access to U.S. taxpayer-funded grants again.

'EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak’s personal debarment will ensure he never again receives a single cent from U.S. taxpayers nor has the opportunity to start a new, untrustworthy organization,' the committee Chairman Brand Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement announcing the debarring.

Last week, HHS announced it was halting grants to EcoHealth pending a review of the organization's practices. 

HHS deputy assistant secretary for acquisitions Katrina Brisbon said then that  'immediate action is necessary to protect the public interest' and there was 'adequate evidence' to prove the nonprofit was not up to department standards.

'Dr. Daszak’s impending debarment does not shield him from accountability to the American people,' Wenstrup's statement continued. 

'It appears that Dr. Daszak may have lied under oath about his relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and his compliance with NIH grant procedures.'

'The Select Subcommittee intends to hold Dr. Daszak accountable for any dishonesty and reminds him that this debarment decision does not preclude him from producing all outstanding documents and answering all the questions of this Congressional body.' 

Daszak's EcoHealth had been awarded $2.6 million in grant funding from HHS in 2023 for three separate proposals - and last week the agency halted those funds.

Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance (left) pictured with Dr. Anthony Fauci (right)

Peter Daszak, right, Thea Fischer, left, and other members of the World Health Organization team investigating the origins of COVID-19 arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

Dr. David Morens, a former top aide to Fauci, tried to blatantly skirt federal transparency requirements by conducting official work on his personal email account

Now, it appears EcoHealth will not get the outstanding amount awarded to it. 

Emails published Wednesday also show that Morens worked with the NIH's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) office to skirt government transparency laws by using his private email account to communicate with Daszak about EcoHealth, its research and the federal funds approved for coronavirus research at WIV in Wuhan, China.

Morens wrote to Daszak in February 2021 that he 'learned from our FOIA .. lady here how to make emails dissapear after I am foia'd.' 

'Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail,' he told Daszak. 

Morens was subpoenaed by the committee and testified before the body Wednesday afternoon after his emails were published. 

'I ask you both that NOTHING gets sent to me except to my gmail,' Morens said in another email to the EcoHealth president. 

Previously, the committee revealed that Morens told them 'I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times,' showing his flagrant disregard for agency transparency protocols. 

Dasak was among the scientists tasked by the World Health Organization to investigate the origins of COVID-19. They did not find that the virus came from a the WIV, where Daszak was conducting coronavirus research

In another email recently revealed, Morens told Daszak 'We 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.'

Morens also heaped praise on his boss Dr. Fauci, writing there 'is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail ... or hand it to him at work or at his house.'

'He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble,' Fauci's loyal lieutenant said of the long-time National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director.