The Department of Justice on Tuesday indicted David Morens, a longtime senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Morens has been charged with conspiracy against the United States, the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records, and concealment of federal records.
According to the indictment, Morens allegedly used his personal Gmail account to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, hid communications aimed at restoring funding to "Company #1," and countered the COVID-19 lab-leak theory. He also stands accused of exchanging non-public information with grantees.
Prosecutors say his actions undermined public trust during the height of the pandemic.
“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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “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.”
.@USAO_MD charges former senior advisor at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for “deliberately concealing information and falsifying records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19” pic.twitter.com/a1lq1jPKoK
— Justin Fenton (@justin_fenton) April 28, 2026
READ MORE: Thanks, Doc: Fauci and Dems Signal Shift in COVID Messaging at Congressional Hearing
According to the indictment, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the height of the pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States, and "agreed in writing to intentionally hide their communications."
Sources familiar with the case allege that Co-Conspirator 1 is EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak and Co-Conspirator 2 is longtime NIAID FOIA official Margaret “Marg” Moore, frequently called the “FOIA lady” in internal communications.
EcoHealth Alliance, under Daszak, had ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). They were the only American organization researching coronaviruses and their evolution and transmission in China.
According to the indictment, Morens and his co-conspirators allegedly worked together after NIH terminated EcoHealth’s bat coronavirus grant to use the Fauci aide's personal email account to evade FOIA requests, exchange non-public NIH information, coordinate efforts to restore the funding, draft pushback letters against the lab-leak theory, and back-channel details to senior NIAID officials.
All of this, while bypassing official government systems that would have preserved the communications as federal records.
Fauci’s senior advisor David Morens once bragged that FOIA never turns up anything useful. How sweet it is that FOIA just got him indicted. https://t.co/LllNKLPPOc
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) April 28, 2026
Morens was not exactly subtle about his attempts to circumvent FOIA requests, writing from his personal email account on two separate occasions that, "I learned the tricks last year from an old friend, Marg Moore, who heads our FOIA office and also hates FOIAs” and “I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear.”
Fauci advisor David Morens admits in an email that he "learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia'd but before the search starts" https://t.co/sn6hvwDF7R pic.twitter.com/1MroXRWNQO
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 28, 2026
Fauci, with the help of Democrat lawmakers crafting the narrative, attempted to distance himself from Morens' actions during a Select Subcommittee for the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing in 2024, while suggesting Daszak and EHA were the real bad guys.
He also hinted that the very title of senior aide was effectively made up. According to Fauci's testimony:
Dr. David Morens, whose title during my tenure as NIAID Director was Senior Advisor to the NIAID Director, has recently been investigated for conduct unbecoming a government official. Naturally, given his title, a connection is made to me. I knew nothing of his actions in assisting Dr. Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance or his conducting NIH business on his personal e-mail account or deleting emails to avoid FOIAs. Several years ago, Dr. Morens was transferred from a scientific division at NIAID to help me write scientific papers and review the scientific literature on infectious diseases. Following his transfer, we needed a title for him and the empirical title of "Senior Advisor to the NIAID Director" was chosen. It is important to point out for the record that, despite his title, functionally Dr. Morens was not an advisor to me on institute policy or other substantive issues.
Morens was a senior advisor to Fauci from 2006 to 2022. Fauci would later claim that "to the best of my knowledge, I have never conducted official business via my personal email."
Morens' own communications cast doubt on that assertion. In an email sent to Daszak on April 21, 2021, Morens advised the EHA President that "there is no worry about FOIAs."
“I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work," he wrote. "He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”
🚨Dr. Fauci may have used his personal email to conduct official business, according to new evidence.
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) May 22, 2024
"I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him..."
"I suggested Arthur try to interview Tony directly and connected him to our 'secret' back channel." pic.twitter.com/QXZoo8Tmyd
“Circumventing records protocols with the intention of avoiding transparency is something that will not be tolerated by this FBI,” Director Kash Patel said in a statement regarding the indictment. “Not only did Morens allegedly engage in the illegal obfuscation of his communications, but he received kickbacks for doing so."
"If you have engaged in activity conspiring against the United States, we will not stop until you face justice.”
Let's not stop with Morens, either.
Fauci's former aide, who is 78, is facing up to five years in prison for the conspiracy charge, 20 years for each count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, and three years for each count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of records.
The indictment of Morens is a solid step toward accountability. Public records were allegedly manipulated, and debate was suppressed during the COVID-19 crisis. It was a significant breach of the public trust, and it took place under Fauci's purview.
It should not, by any means, be the final one, however. After years of stonewalling and shifting narratives, the American public deserves nothing less than complete answers.
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