Former Fauci Adviser David Morens Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide Covid-Related Records
David Morens, a former senior adviser at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to hiding federal records from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more Minnesota Man Arrested for Medicaid Fraud Scheme Previously Won State’s ‘Outstanding Refugee’ Award
Morens, a senior adviser at NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022 under Dr. Anthony Fauci, was charged by the Department of Justice in April with five counts related to the scheme.
He agreed to a deal with federal prosecutors this week that would see him plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses or to defraud the United States. The charge carries up to five years in prison.
Morens’s attorney, Tim Belevetz, told several media outlets, “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did and will continue to do so.”
The indictment came after the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic found evidence that Morens had used his personal email to discuss Covid-19’s origins and National Institutes of Health grants with EcoHealth Alliance, including a terminated coronavirus grant, in an attempt to keep the communications hidden from hypothetical future FOIA requests.
The committee obtained a communication between Morens and EcoHealth President Peter Daszak in which Morens wrote, “I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
In another 2021 email, Morens wrote, “i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia’d but before the search starts, so i think we are all safe.”
“Plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail,” he wrote.
Read more Eric Swalwell Admitted to Sexual Relationship with Suspected Chinese Spy in 2015 FBI Interview
Prosecutors also accused Morens of using his personal Gmail account to “back-channel” information to an unidentified senior NIAID official, who appears to be Fauci.
The guilty plea also sees Morens admit to conspiring with Daszak to pay illegal gratuities. Morens received two bottles of wine in June 2020 from Daszak, who is identified only as “co-conspirator 1” in court filings. Daszak told Morens in an email to his personal account that he could provide additional items of value, including a meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
As investigations into Morens’ actions unfolded in 2024, Fauci distanced himself from the longtime adviser and denied using his personal email to conduct official business.
“With respect to his recent testimony before this subcommittee, I knew nothing of Dr. Morens’s actions regarding Dr. Daszak, EcoHealth or his emails. It is important to point out for the record that despite his title, and even though he was helpful to me in writing scientific papers, Dr. Morens was not an advisor to me on [NIAID] policy, or other substantive issues,” Fauci said.
Both Fauci’s emails and his personal diary have now been made public thanks to efforts from Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) to investigate any potential coverup Fauci and his associates may have orchestrated around Covid-19’s origins.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted earlier this month to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he appeared before the committee but pleaded the Fifth to avoid answering questions by Paul and others about his obfuscation of facts surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read more New York Magazine Turns Its Back on the City’s Jews
