Republicans escalate COVID origins probe by slapping Dr. Fauci's top aide with subpoena for 'intentionally' HIDING pandemic discussions by using personal email

Republicans have escalated their investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by sending a subpoena to a former top aide of Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Last week, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic revealed that Dr. David Morens - Fauci's top aide at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - allegedly used his personal Gmail account to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to skirt federal transparency laws.

At the time, Morens' official government work email would have been subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests that could have publicized his day-to-day communications.

The subcommittee's chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said that Morens used Gmail to 'intentionally [subvert] federal transparency laws to shield discussions related to the origins of COVID-19.'

Now, Wenstrup has sent a subpoena to Morens demanding he turn over documents from his personal email account about COVID-19, coronavirus grant funding and his communications with Fauci and former NIH Director Francis Collins, among other top health officials.

Wenstrup is requesting the material be sent by April 30. 

The Ohio Republican previously said a whistleblower provided him the materials indicating Morens' use of his personal email.

Those whistleblower-provided emails show Morens using an '@gmail.com' account to correspond with Dr. Peter Daszak, head of EcoHealth Alliance, a research nonprofit, regarding a government research grant. 

In a batch of documents released last week by EcoHealth, Daszak emailed Morens saying 'we'll communicate with you via Gmail from now on,' before later mentioning having '15,000 samples in freezers in Wuhan,' that could help them 'do the full genomes of 700+ [coronaviruses].'  

Another email shows Morens appearing to disclose Fauci's attempts to provide 'damage control' for EcoHealth.

'Tony is now fully aware I think and is I am told involved in some sort of damage control,' Morens told Daszak. 

Republicans previously revealed that EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in partnership with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), submitted a proposal to federal officials seeking funding to create a novel coronavirus in 2018. 

And Wenstrup has accused EcoHealth of using taxpayer dollars 'to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.' 

'These emails raise serious concerns about federal health officials potentially covering up the pandemic’s origin,' Wenstrup stated previously.

The subject line of one of the messages between Morens' personal email and EcoHealth's Daszak includes a reference to a National Institute of Health (NIH) grant proposal that provided $661,980 for a 2019 project titled 'Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.' 

Another subject line from his personal email reads 'COVID-19 update (312): China, SARS-CoV2 origin, animal reservoir, WHO mission,' indicating the two were discussing the origins of the disease.

A third email from Morens had a subject line that referenced 'our suspended R01,' possibly indicating that funding for the bat coronavirus research project was stopped at some point. 

However, during his transcribed interview with the Select Subcommittee in January, Morens 'denied deleting any federal COVID-19 origins records,' according to the lawmaker.

Morens also admitted previously to the committee in a closed interview that 'I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.'

'I always try to communicate over gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly,' Morens told the committee at the time.

Morens' admission that he intentionally hides his communications prompted Wenstrup to send a letter to Boston University Professor Dr. Gerald Keusch, who was mentioned in the emails.

Wenstrup is requesting the production of any documents and communication related to Keusch's correspondence with Dr. Morens, the committee stated.

That includes any emails with 'other individuals and entities with knowledge of and access to COVID-19 origins material.'

'This letter continues our investigation into the potential cover-up of COVID-19 origins information by America’s public health authorities,' Wenstrup writes.

The Republican requested Keusch turn over his communications with a number of federal officials by April 25. 

Earlier this week, Sen. Rand Paul announced that at least 15 government agencies, including NIAID and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), had information regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology's proposal.

And despite these officials knowing that EcoHealth, the Wuhan Institute and NIAID wanted to create a disease similar COVID-19, they did not reveal to the public the labs intentions.

Further muddying the waters are allegations from Paul that Fauci could have been involved in influencing decisions made surrounding the origins of COVID-19, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still says likely came from bats and not a Chinese lab. 

'We also have stories, rumors and innuendo that Fauci was a frequent visitor off the books to the CIA.'

Paul says Fauci's secretive trips are important because 'the CIA officially still says [COVID-19 is] probably from animals.'

Paul pointed to how the CIA disagrees with findings from the Department of Energy and FBI that have said the the pandemic likely originated from a leak at a Wuhan, China, lab.

And that though an initial CIA assessment found the lab leak theory was likely, senior officials in the agency overruled their findings. 

That means, according to Paul, Fauci almost certainly knew about the Chinese labs' desire to create a novel coronavirus, as NIAID was a partner on the proposal.  

'So in January and February of 2020, instead of Anthony Fauci piping up and saying 'Oh, wow, they briefed us on this. It looks like they ended up doing what they briefed us on' instead of saying that, he commissioned people to say the opposite,' Paul told DailyMail.com.

'It makes me think there's really something there that they're hiding.' 

Dr. Peter Daszak, meanwhile, is set to testify publicly before the House on May 1. 

EcoHealth and Dr. Morens did not return a request for comment.