WASHINGTON — Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall sent a letter to Dr. Anthony Fauci Thursday demanding his unredacted financial disclosure form, a continuation of this week’s terse exchange that went viral when Fauci called Marshall a “moron.”
In a committee hearing on Tuesday, Marshall asked for Fauci’s financial disclosure form, which Fauci replied was public and available upon request.
“Wouldn’t you agree with me that you see things before members of Congress would see them, so that there’s an air of appearance that maybe some shenanigans are going on?” Marshall said. “I assume that’s not the case.”
Marshall has continued to argue that the documents aren’t public because they aren’t easily accessible.
“It is astonishing to see the liberal media scramble to defend Dr. Fauci by changing the definition of what ‘public’ actually means,” he said. “Dr. Fauci’s financial disclosures for the years of the COVID pandemic are NOT public.”
By definition, the forms are a public record. It means that by law, members of the public have the right to see the information the forms contain. That doesn’t always mean it’s easy for the public to get them.
“It’s easier to get this information than other types of information,” said Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “But like any process it can be improved.”
It is relatively easy to get Marshall’s financial disclosure forms, which are also a public record. The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee has a searchable database where people can plug in the name of a current or former Senator and find reports dating back to 2012. They are available for former members for six years after they’ve left office.
The online database, which was required by federal law through the Ethics in Government Act, makes it easy to track down the stock purchases of members, providing accountability if they fail to follow reporting requirements. Earlier this year, Marshall filed late reports about stock trades made by his children (Marshall’s office said they reported the trades as soon as he was made aware of them).
Getting access to Fauci’s financial disclosure form takes a few more steps. The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the agency Fauci heads, said the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has determined that his financial reports and those of other directors at the National Institutes of Health are public because of the nature of their positions.
But in order to get the document, you have to fill out an OGE Form 201 request. To submit the request, you have to register an account on the National Institutes of Health Freedom of Information Act portal and submit the form.
It then takes time for the agency to process the request before they either mail it or say it is available to be picked up.
Liz Essley Whyte, a reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, requested Fauci’s financial disclosure form in 2020, which covered the 2019 fiscal year. She said it took more than two months to get the document, which contained redactions.
The fact that there is a process to obtain the records, Canter said, isn’t a reflection on whether Fauci is being transparent.
“Fauci has done everything he’s been asked to do,” Canter said. “There’s nothing to suggest that he hasn’t complied with his reporting requirements.”
She added that Marshall’s office should have been able to figure out which form it needed to submit to get the information it was seeking.
“Marshall is in a better position than all of us to be able to get access to this,” Canter said. “Certainly these reports should be available electronically, ideally on OGE’s website... but Congress writes the statute that the database is based upon.”
Marshall’s office said he is currently working on legislation that would do just that.
He hopes to amend the Ethics in Government Act to require that financial disclosure forms for government officials like Fauci be posted online. That would make it easier for the public to access the information, rather than having to submit a request and wait for a response.
