The Justice Department announced that it has indicted former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) employee David M. Morens for allegedly trying to conceal federal records related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Justice Department alleges that Morens, who worked as Dr. Anthony Fauci's senior adviser, tried to hide federal records tied to controversial coronavirus research grants. Morens, 78, is 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 defendant previously served as a senior adviser in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 to 2022.
The indictment alleges that Morens’ illegal activities started after the NIH terminated a grant aimed at funding research about the risks of bats spreading the coronavirus. The grant was awarded to a company that included a subaward to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
David Morens indicted for the lab leak coverup on behalf of "Co-Conspirator 1" (Peter Daszak), with a backchannel of info to "Senior NIAID Official 1" (Fauci).
— Emily Kopp (@emilyakopp) April 28, 2026
What MAHA Inc wont tell you: A coauthor of this fraudulent scientific commentary now leads NIAID for Jay Bhattacharya. pic.twitter.com/tCg4AhTO5q
The grant was canceled amid suspicions that the COVID-19 virus came from a Chinese lab in Wuhan. Prosecutors say Morens and others tried to persuade the agency to restore the grants by pushing back against the claims about the coronavirus’ origins, which were later confirmed to be true.
Morens and his co-conspirators allegedly anticipated that people would file Freedom of Information Act requests to access government documents on the pandemic. They agreed in writing to use Morens’ personal Gmail account instead of his government account to ensure that the information would not be found due to the FOIA requests. In this way, they sought to prevent the information about COVID’s origins from reaching the public, according to the Justice Department.
The defendant allegedly used his personal Gmail account to share non-public NIH information, discuss ways to influence NIH funding decisions, and pass information behind the scenes to a senior NIAID official — even though these records should have been kept on government systems.
BREAKING: Fauci’s former aide INDICTED
— Dave 🍻 (@DavidHnumbers) April 28, 2026
David Morens, ex senior advisor at NIAID, faces charges of conspiracy, destroying federal records, and hiding info on COVID origins
He used personal Gmail to AVOID FOIA and pushed efforts to suppress the lab-leak theory pic.twitter.com/uanMpnxSWT
Morens also allegedly took part in an illegal gratuities scheme with one of his co-conspirators. The DOJ said he accepted illegal gifts, including wine and the promise of expensive meals in exchange for promoting the false narrative that the COVID-19 pandemic occurred naturally and was not manufactured by humans.
If convicted, Morens could face up to five years on the conspiracy charge, up to 20 years for each falsification-related count, and up to three years for each concealment-related count.
But Morens did not act in a vacuum. His actions occurred against the backdrop of a wholesale effort on the part of the Biden administration to bury the lab-leak theory. The administration attempted to conceal the true origin of the coronavirus.
The White House under Biden pressured social media companies to suppress content theorizing that the virus came from a Chinese lab. It repeatedly denied that this could have been the case.
The Wall Street Journal published a report about how FBI and Defense Department analysts who supported the lab leak theory were excluded from key 2021 briefings for Biden. This meant the former president was only presented with evidence of a “natural origin” rather than the Wuhan lab.
The Justice Department has not indicated whether it plans to indict others in this alleged scheme, but it does shed more light on the lengths some in the Biden administration went to conceal the truth about the pandemic from the American public.
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