Fauci diary reveals alarm that U.S. had aerosolized Ebola virus: ‘Never should have been done’
By Steven Richards & John SolomonDr. Anthony Fauci privately sounded the alarm when he learned the U.S. Army had conducted an experiment a decade ago that aerosolized the lethal Ebola virus, which is not normally transmitted by air, and then shared the results publicly amid an ongoing outbreak in Africa, according to diary entries obtained by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul.
The then-top scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease was particularly concerned in 2016 that the Army medical research arm's experiment seemed to show that exposure to aerosolized Ebola caused more damaging effects in subjects that had been vaccinated. This was almost four years before he championed shutting down the U.S. economy and social life over the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
Fauci wrote he believed such research should be kept secret, preferably classified, so that it didn’t undermine public confidence in vaccination in the African countries suffering an outbreak of the virus.
“What idiots those guys at USAMRIID [U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases] are,” Fauci wrote in a March 2016 diary entry. “This should have been a classified experiment that never should have been done in the first place.”
He added, “Now I have to speak with the NSC [National Security Council] from the SKIF [sic] tomorrow to pick up the doo-doo and explain why this is an irrelevant experiment.” Fauci was likely referring to a "SCIF" which is a room designed to prevent leaked electronic communications.
The entry is the latest evidence to chronicle how widespread dangerous U.S. research on viruses has become, following revelations earlier this year from the Director of National Intelligence that the U.S. has funded scores of pathogen labs across the globe, including in war zones.
President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order mostly banning gain-of-function research that enhances viruses to make them more deadly to humans.
Paul told Just the News he believed the new diary entries reveal an effort by the federal government to hide dangerous research rather than stop it.
“These records show NIAID was funding risky research with the Defense Department, and when the results turned problematic, Dr. Fauci argued they should have been classified," Paul said."The email he sent demanding answers went to his longtime special assistant, who has since declined to answer the Committee's questions.
"Americans deserve to know what kind of risky research their taxpayer dollars are funding. It is clear additional oversight is needed into what Dr. Fauci's institute was paying for long before COVID," he added. "This is exactly why Congress should pass the Risky Research Review Act. Under my bill, an independent board of outside scientists would have to review research like this before a single taxpayer dollar went out the door.“
At the time of the Ebola experiment, the United States was planning to deploy vaccines to West Africa to address the ongoing Ebola outbreaks there. Fauci noted that African officials from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone were “going batshit” because they were concerned the U.S. would deploy ineffective vaccines in their countries.
Fauci’s diary and communications were obtained by Paul as part of his committee’s ongoing investigation into COVID-19 origins, dangerous viral research and alleged cover-ups. The latest memos, which the senator plans to release on Monday, were shared with Just the News.
You can read the latest release below:
File
The inescapable irony of Fauci: “If someone does not tell me the truth and I find out they did not, then they are gone.”
Days after he found out that NIAID had funded the aerosol studies, Fauci emailed a subordinate, demanding all information about his agency’s collaboration with the Army medical researchers, and threatened to fire anyone who was not forthcoming.
“I have to meet with the NSC people later this AM. And so, please, please make sure that you or the people from whom you get this information tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Do not tell me what you think I want to hear or hold back what you think will upset me. No one will get hurt if they made a mistake, but then they told me the truth,” Fauci wrote. “If someone does not tell me the truth and I find out they did not, then they are gone.”
Paul summoned Fauci to testify before his committee, but the retired top doc refused to answer most questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Paul's panel referred Fauci to the Justice Department for possible prosecution for contempt of Congress. Fauci was granted a pardon by President Biden, leading some constitutional experts to insist that Fauci does not have the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment.
More evidence of document destruction appears
The latest batch of Fauci diary entries and communications come as Paul says his committee is continuing to uncover fresh evidence of government-document destruction and more extensive gain-of-function research that enhances the human lethality of viruses.
Using aerosolized viruses to test infection pathways, which is what government researchers were doing with the Ebola virus back in 2016, is not considered a form of gain-of-function research by scientists. Gain-of-function research specifically requires researchers to conduct genetic alterations to the underlying virus.
The newly released memos, which include diary entries and internal emails, show that Fauci was particularly worried about how the researchers’ findings, that test animals vaccinated against the Ebola virus experienced greater levels of inflammation compared to those that were unvaccinated when exposed, may impact public confidence in vaccines.
“During the course of those experiments, the DOD noticed that the animals that were vaccinated had more inflammation in the long [sic] then [sic] those who were unvaccinated even though almost all the aerosol-challenged [sic] animals died,” Fauci wrote in a later entry. “The current experiments were done to find out if this was a real phenomenon and if it was relevant. Again, I believe all of this is important for bio-defense, but has little to do with naturally emerging Ebola outbreaks. Nonetheless, the idea that the vaccine can do harm is now causing people a great deal of concern.”
The emails show that NIAID funded the aerosol studies at the Army’s laboratory and helped design the Ebola study. “The study was conducted at the Army's infectious disease institute at Fort Detrick under a NIAID task order, comparing four vaccines in groups of four monkeys exposed to aerosolized Ebola -- an engineered exposure that drove the virus deep into the lung in a way natural infection would not,” the Senate committee said in a fact-sheet attached to the new memos.
A share of blame goes to Dept. of Defense and NIAID
The memos also show that NIAID researchers never considered that the research should be classified until Fauci was informed of the results of the experiment and raised the alarm. As Fauci blamed “the foolish DOD people” for circulating the data within the government and U.S. embassies, he told his colleagues that the research should be classified because they “could indicate a vulnerability.” However, the records show that NIAID and Army researchers never considered that such research would require classification. In fact, the researchers said that some results had already been shared with vaccine manufacturers.
The chain of emails exchanged during the Ebola research saga also appears to contain a reference to federal coronavirus research, which has piqued the committee’s interest. “In the interim, however, we will continue to make plans to initiate the CoV study as soon as the lights turn green,” wrote NIAID scientist Peter Jahrling.
It is unclear whether “CoV” means coronavirus. At the time, scientists were interested in studying the coronavirus family after the outbreak in 2012 of MERS-CoV, which causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Later that same year, North Carolina-based scientists announced their research showed such coronaviruses are lurking in Chinese bats and could jump to humans.
Fauci's culture of secrecy, still supported by Congressional Dems
Fauci’s diary has landed the ex-health official in hot water. During his time as the leading government health official during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci kept a meticulous record of his meetings, phone calls, and other day-to-day activities. Last month, the committee released memos showing he privately believed that the death rate of COVID-19 was much lower than he told Congress just one month later, Just the News previously reported.
Paul said he has found more evidence of the culture of secrecy inside Fauci's inner circle, including possible destruction of documents mentioned by his then-assistant. Government emails are generally required to be preserved under the Federal Records Act. It is for this reason that Paul sought to secure legal immunity for the long-time aide who wanted to blow the whistle on that culture. Federal law allows congressional committees to seek such a court order, but only by a two-thirds majority vote of the committee. Because the panel voted 8-7 along party lines, the Democrats effectively sunk the resolution.
Paul declined to identify the aide, but previously said she expressed concern about testifying without legal immunity. The senator previously subpoenaed the assistant to appear before the committee for a closed-door meeting, but she invoked her 5th Amendment rights and declined to answer the committee's questions.
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