04/29/2026
🚨 Breaking: Former Senior Adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci Indicted by the Department of Justice on Federal Charges for Concealing COVID-19 Records
The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted David Morens, a longtime senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), on five federal counts.
Morens, 78, who served in that role from 2006 to 2022, faces one count of conspiracy against the United States, two counts of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, and two counts of concealment, removal, or mutilation of records.
He faces up to 51 years in federal prison if convicted on all charges.
The indictment, unsealed in Maryland federal court, details how Morens and two co-conspirators engaged in a deliberate scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Federal Records Act requirements.
They used Morens’s personal Gmail account to conduct official government business, share non-public information, coordinate responses to funding decisions, and shield communications related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic from public scrutiny.
Specific actions detailed in the indictment include:
• Morens advised colleagues on techniques to delete or hide emails after receiving FOIA requests but before searches began. He stated he had learned “how to make emails disappear” and that he would “delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”
• He told associates he could safely send sensitive materials to Fauci via private email or hand them over in person, noting that Fauci was “too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
• Morens received illegal gratuities from EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak, including bottles of high-end wine, in exchange for behind-the-scenes assistance and support. Communications referenced “shenanigans” to protect EcoHealth and NIH amid scrutiny. Daszak sent wine as thanks for Morens’s efforts, and Morens responded by offering to publish scientific commentary promoting EcoHealth’s work.
These actions obstructed hundreds of FOIA requests from journalists, watchdog groups, and the public seeking information about NIH grants to EcoHealth Alliance.
Those grants funneled more than 1.4 million dollars in taxpayer funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research, including gain-of-function experiments that enhanced viral infectivity.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated: “These actions represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most—during the height of a global pandemic.”
FBI Director Kash Patel noted that Morens engaged in the illegal obfuscation of communications and received kickbacks for doing so.
Morens made his initial court appearance on Monday. He received conditional release but must surrender his passport and avoid all contact with the co-conspirators.
This indictment follows a criminal referral from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and years of investigations into pandemic decision-making, grant oversight, and the handling of scientific debate on COVID-19 origins.
For a deeper examination of these issues, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an excellent book titled The Wuhan Cover-Up: And the Terrifying Bioweapons Arms Race.
The American public deserves full transparency and accountability from those entrusted with public health decisions that impacted every American.
This case exposes serious failures in federal records management, external influence on government policy, and efforts to control scientific narratives during a national crisis.
