The United States Department of Justice has brought charges against a former senior adviser to Dr Anthony Fauci for allegedly having destroyed and concealed documentation from the investigation into the origin of Covid-19. This is reported by The New York Post.
David M. Morens is an American physician and researcher who for many years served as senior adviser to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a government institute engaged in medical research. For nearly four decades, from 1984 to December 2022, the director of NIAID was Anthony Fauci, one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the entire United States.
David Morens (78) is now charged with one count of conspiracy against the United States, two counts of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations, as well as two counts of concealment, removal or destruction of records.
The conspiracy also involved an alleged “kickback” scheme in which Morens accepted or was promised gifts – including bottles of wine and meals at Michelin-starred restaurants – in exchange for performing “official acts that were favourable” to a federal grant recipient.
The former NIAID official faces up to 51 years in federal prison if convicted on all counts.
The indictment, which was made public on Monday in a federal court in Maryland, also mentions two unnamed co-conspirators who “concealed, removed, destroyed and caused the concealment and removal of federal records in order to avoid FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] and FRA [Federal Records Act]”.
Information in the indictment indicates that the co-conspirators are Dr Peter Daszak, president of the organisation EcoHealth Alliance, and Dr Gerald Keusch, associate director at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Institute and a recipient of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The former chairman of the House Subcommittee on Covid, Brad Wenstrup, told the New York Post on Tuesday that “additional indictments may follow”.
“The consequences of these actions have caused significant harm to public health, and recovery may take a long time due to the involvement of many individuals across different agencies,” he said. “The ongoing pursuit of justice is essential for the well-being of the American people”.
Dr Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, added that “the evidence against the three is compelling”.
“Unless one or more turn and provide evidence against Fauci and others in exchange for immunity, all three should be, and will likely be, convicted,” said Ebright, who noted that Keusch approved the first EcoHealth grant awarded to the now infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology in 2002.
Fauci, who left public service in December 2022, is also referred to as “Senior NIAID Official 1” in several communications cited in the indictment – but is not named as a co-conspirator.
Morens, who is currently on conditional release, must “avoid all contact” with the co-conspirators, who between April 2020 and June 2023 together with him attempted to reinstate millions of dollars in federal grants to EcoHealth and polish the organisation’s public image, according to the 29-page indictment.
These included grants totalling $4 million and $7.5 million awarded to the organisation in 2014 and 2020 respectively, some of which ultimately funded controversial so-called gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China.
“There are things I cannot say, except that Tony is aware of it, and I have been told that work is under way within NIH to get this through with minimal damage for you, Peter, and colleagues, as well as for NIH and NIAID,” Morens wrote to Daszak and Keusch in an email dated 26 April 2020 sent from a private account.
NIAID director Anthony Fauci and then NIH director Francis Collins had in February 2020 “influenced” the notorious “Proximal Origins” article, which sought to downplay concerns that Covid had leaked from a Chinese laboratory and instead argued that the outbreak was consistent with a natural origin of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
But the scientific commentary to which Morens referred appears to be an article from July 2020 published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, which also argues for a theory of natural spread of the virus and “significantly increased funding for basic and applied research addressing the emergence of diseases”.
Emails published by Wenstrup’s subcommittee – and cited in the indictment – showed that Morens directly asked Daszak “do I get a share?” regarding the $7.5 million grant he secured for EcoHealth.
Daszak replied in the August 2020 email exchange: “of course there is a share”, before remarking philosophically: “I hope it does not end in five years in federal prison”.
Morens often conducted official business from his Gmail account – and via a “secret back channel” with his superior Anthony Fauci – while asking the NIH FOIA liaison for advice on how to avoid disclosure requests, according to communications first revealed by The Post in May 2024.
FOIA is an abbreviation for the Freedom of Information Act, the United States federal law on access to information.
“There is no need to worry about FOIA requests. I can either send things to Tony on his private Gmail [sic], or give it to him at work or at his home,” Morens wrote in an email on 21 April 2021. “He is too smart to let colleagues send him things that could cause problems”.
Two months earlier, in an email of 24 February, Morens said: “[I] learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I have received a FOIA request, but before the search begins”.
Morens also told Keusch in an email of 13 May 2021 that he had “connected” a colleague to Fauci via “our ‘secret’ back channel”.
On 9 September 2021, Morens wrote that he would “always communicate on Gmail [sic] because my NIH email is subject to FOIA requests all the time” and “delete anything I do not want to see in the New York Times”.
The prosecution alleges that these actions prevented the American public from accessing information requested in “hundreds” of FOIA requests, including from US Right To Know, the journal Science and the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Many sought information about a now infamous grant to EcoHealth Alliance, overseen by Morens and commencing in 2014, which channelled US taxpayer funds to research on bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus responsible for Covid-19 emerged in late 2019.
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EcoHealth ultimately provided more than $1.4 million to WIV to carry out “genetic experiments to combine naturally occurring bat coronaviruses with SARS and MERS viruses, resulting in hybridised (also known as chimeric) coronavirus strains”, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office from June 2023.
The project involved risky gain-of-function experiments on the viruses that made them 10,000 times more infectious.
NIH deputy director Lawrence Tabak finally confirmed that the experiments took place in sworn testimony before Congress on 16 May 2024 – after more than four years of denials – but denied that they were the cause of the pandemic.
However, another EcoHealth proposal that was never funded, known as Project DEFUSE, has been cited by researchers and legislators as containing a “blueprint” for creating the virus that causes Covid-19.
During a contribution to a biosafety panel in October 2024, former CDC director Dr Robert Redfield pointed out that even projects and proposals that have not received funding may be tested under other research grants that have been funded.
Emails in the indictment showed that Tabak internally criticised EcoHealth’s “reporting compliance” as Morens and Daszak attempted to dampen difficult questions about the organisation’s failure to submit information in time for the Wuhan bat coronavirus grant.
EcoHealth and Daszak were later barred from receiving federal funds for five years in January 2025 – before Trump returned to the White House. It is unclear whether the non-profit organisation is still operating, and its website has been taken down.
“These allegations represent a serious breach of trust at a time when the American people needed it most – at the height of a global pandemic,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement.
“The offences that David Morens has committed, together with those attributed to other co-conspirators, are clearly described in the committee’s report. The consequences of these actions have caused significant harm to public health, and recovery may take a long time due to the involvement of many individuals across different agencies”.
“As set out in the indictment, Dr Morens and his co-conspirators deliberately concealed information and falsified documents in an attempt to suppress alternative theories about the origin of Covid-19. Public officials have a serious duty to present honest, well-founded facts and advice in the public interest – not to advance their own personal or ideological agendas”.
“Not only did Morens allegedly engage in unlawful concealment of his communications, but he also received bribes to do so,” added FBI Director Kash Patel in a statement.
Both the FBI and the Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services conducted the investigation that led to the indictment, following a criminal referral from Wenstrup.
Most of the emails cited in the indictment were first uncovered by the subcommittee’s investigation – and “provided substantial evidence that led to the bringing of criminal charges”, Wenstrup said.
“Furthermore, it is worth noting that the Inspector General has allegedly uncovered additional information that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withheld from the investigative team,” he added.
“I am proud that the work of the Select Subcommittee led to this step towards accountability and transparency,” added Mitch Benzine, former chief of staff to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and currently an attorney in Eversheds Sutherland’s Congressional Investigations practice.
“This is an example of how congressional investigations can spur activity by law enforcement authorities”.
The New York Post writes that Keusch did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morens’ lawyer, Daszak and EcoHealth could not be reached for comment.