Health officials tried to skirt public records laws, lawmakers say

N.I.H. officials suggested that federal record keepers helped them hide their emails. If so, “it really hurts trust in government as a whole,” one expert said. “conspiracy at the highest levels” of the agency to conceal public records related to the origins of the Covid pandemic. And lawmakers promised to expand an investigation that revealed emails in which top health officials spoke openly about attempts to evade federal records laws.

The latest accusations — coming days before a House panel publicly questions Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a former top N.I.H. official. official — represent one front of a growing push by lawmakers to link U.S. research groups and the nation's top medical research agency to the early days of the Covid pandemic.

This surge has so far, no evidence has emerged that U.S. scientists or health officials had anything to do with the coronavirus outbreak. But the House panel, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, released a series of private emails suggesting that at least some N.I.H. officials deleted posts and tried to skirt public records laws in the face of pandemic scrutiny.

Even those at the N.I.H. officials whose job it was to produce documents under the Freedom of Information Act may have helped their colleagues evade their obligations under that law, several emails suggest. The law, known as FOIA, gives people the right to obtain copies of federal documents.

“I learned from Notre Dame Foia here how make emails disappear after my liver. “but before the research begins, so I think we are all safe,” Dr. David Morens, a former senior advisor to Dr. Fauci, wrote in February 2021. That email chain included Dr. Gerald Keusch, a scientist and former N.I.H. official, and Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit virus-hunting group whose work with Chinese scientists has attracted the attention of lawmakers.

“Also, I deleted most of these previous emails after sending them to Gmail,” Dr. Morens added, referring to his personal Gmail account.

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