Key facts
- David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to evading federal public records laws.
- Morens conspired with others to conceal communications related to COVID-19 research grants using personal email.
- The scheme aimed to thwart Freedom of Information Act requests concerning pandemic origins and a specific research grant.
- Morens faces up to five years in prison at his November 12 sentencing.
David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade federal public records laws and conceal government documents related to grant research funding and the COVID-19 pandemic. Morens, 78, entered his plea to a conspiracy charge in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Prosecutors stated that Morens' plea related to the National Institutes of Health's decision to cancel a research grant for EcoHealth Alliance, which had received a sub-award from a company that had received the grant. This cancellation followed allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan lab. Morens pledged to help restore the grant and counter the narrative of a lab leak.
Anticipating that their communications would be sought through Freedom of Information Act requests, Morens and others agreed to correspond using Morens’ personal email account instead of his government one, prosecutors said. He faces up to five years in prison when sentenced on November 12.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the NIAID for 38 years, is not accused of any wrongdoing in the case. He appeared before a Senate panel last month and accused Senator Rand Paul of pursuing an "unhinged" campaign to see him imprisoned.
The origins of COVID-19 remain a subject of debate, with various U.S. intelligence agencies holding differing levels of confidence regarding a lab leak versus natural transmission.