A former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci was indicted Tuesday regarding his alleged efforts to hide records about the origins of the Chinese coronavirus.
Seventy-eight-year-old Dr. David Morens is facing multiple charges in the case, the New York Post reported.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) detailed the indictment against the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) staffer, saying he was allegedly involved in evading Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests linked to COVID-19 research grants:
According to the indictment, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant, Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence (bat coronavirus grant), based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company #1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.
Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through a FOIA Request, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide from public view their communications by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.
In 2024, emails obtained by a congressional subpoena showed Morens had once bragged about “how to make emails disappear,” Breitbart News reported at the time.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) said in September that there is email evidence allegedly showing Fauci may have deleted public records, which contradicted his previous testimony.
“In a letter addressed to Fauci, which Breitbart News viewed, Paul revealed that the committee was conducting an ‘investigation into the origins’ of the coronavirus,” the outlet continued. “Paul added that the committee had ‘obtained records’ revealing that Fauci allegedly directed employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to destroy federal records.”
Morens has been charged with “conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting,” the DOJ’s news release said.
According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, “These allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most — during the height of a global pandemic.”
He stated:
As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19. Government officials have a solemn duty to provide honest, well-grounded facts and advice in service of the public interest — not to advance their own personal or ideological agendas.
In a social media post regarding the indictment, Paul wrote he is pleased with the move.
“I referred David Morens to the DOJ for criminal prosecution back in 2024 over his alleged improper concealment and deliberate destruction of federal records,” he said:
“Good to see the Department of Justice is following through. Accountability is coming,” Paul concluded.
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