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Press Release
Former Senior NIAID Official Indicted for Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland – A former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) employee is facing indictment for his role in a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in connection with COVID-19 research grants.
David M. Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, 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. Morens served as a senior advisor in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the indictment with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche; FBI Director Kash Patel; Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office; and Inspector General T. March Bell, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
“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,” Blanche said. “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.”
“Circumventing records protocols with the intention of avoiding transparency is something that will not be tolerated by this FBI,” Patel said. “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.”
“When public officials deliberately circumvent the law to hide their communications from the public, they undermine the public’s trust and the integrity of our institutions. This was especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic when transparency was needed most,” Hayes said. “Our office will continue to hold accountable those who seek to evade their legal obligations for their own gain.”
“As a public official, Morens was held to a higher standard and expected to dutifully follow the law,” Paul said. “Morens allegedly violated the law by circumventing the required processes for retaining official documents.”
“Public officials who disregard their legal obligations undermine the transparency that keeps our federal programs strong. The deliberate mishandling and concealment of records in a federal investigation is not just a breach of duty, it is a betrayal of public trust,” Bell said. “HHS-OIG remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure that anyone who seeks to evade the law is held fully accountable.”
As a senior advisor, Morens counseled Senior NIAID Official 1 and other senior-level NIAID staff on senior-level policies, developed recommendations and solutions for issues impacting the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and wrote and edited manuscripts. Morens also provided guidance and expertise to senior staff members on epidemiological studies and issues related to infectious disease planning and management.
Additionally, Morens gathered information from grantees and others in the scientific community to establish facts about the nature of COVID-19. This enabled Morens to understand NIH and NIAID’s historical activities in coronavirus research, assist in formulating policy and procedures, and brief Senior NIAID Official 1 so he could then relay information to the President of the United States, Congress, and the public.
According to the indictment, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant, Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence, based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company #1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.
Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through a FOIA Request, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide their communications, from public view, by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.
The indictment alleges that the conspirators used Morens’s personal Gmail account to exchange non-public NIH information; correspond about their efforts to influence NIH to fund Company #1; exchange edits to drafts of letters addressed to NIH leadership for Company #1 and Co-Conspirator 1; and “back-channel” information to Senior NIAID Official 1. According to the indictment, each of these matters fell within Morens’s role as senior advisor and constituted federal records that needed to be created, maintained, and exchanged on government systems.
Additionally, the indictment further alleges that Morens and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired to pay illegal gratuities. The indictment states that Co-Conspirator 1 gifted Morens wine for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans,” and arranged for its delivery to Morens’s residence in Maryland. Morens then allegedly identified an official act that he could perform to “deserve” the gift, which was a scientific commentary in a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins. The indictment further alleges that Co-Conspirator 1 suggested he would provide Morens with additional things of value, including meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. Individuals charged by indictment are presumed innocent until proven guilty at a later criminal proceeding.
If convicted, Morens faces up to five years in prison for conspiracy against the United States, 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. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district judge determines sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and HHS-OIG for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Bijon A. Mostoufi who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/report-fraud.
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Contact
Kevin Nash
USAMD.Press@usdoj.gov
410-209-4946
Updated April 28, 2026
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Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diary
Pages 13-15 /1141
Jan. 31, 2020 –...
(screenshots)
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Start on page 998 of 1123https://paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/slack-drop-pm.pdf
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Note that all of this happened AFTER the scientists already had access to the data they used in their 2022 Science preprints claiming dispositive evidence for a market origin of Covid.
7:40 PM · Jul 27, 2026
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Reminder: During Daszak's testimony in congress, he said he doesn't have access to the dataset of samples and viruses collected by the Wuhan Institute of Virology using NIH funding channeled there via the EcoHealth Alliance. He doesn't know what viruses they found after 2015.
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Page 86 https://paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Reading-Room-FINAL.pdf
8:44 PM · Jul 28, 2026Comment
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Fauci Quietly Fumed As CIA Briefed Him On Explosive Wuhan Lab Intel, Diary Reveals
Emily Kopp
Senior Investigative Reporter
July 29, 2026
1:01 PM ET
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The new documents confirm that the CIA obtained signals intelligence (SIGINT) regarding conversations in Wuhan at the height of the COVID pandemic.
American spies overheard communications about experiments the lab had never disclosed to the global scientific community. Some of the experiments were conducted with the Chinese military, according to Fauci’s account of the CIA briefing.
The CIA officer informed Fauci that the Wuhan lab had collected pangolin viruses in the field and received other pangolin viruses from a research group in Beijing. The lab experimented on those pangolin coronaviruses in “transgenic” mice, a reference to genetically-modified mice. Experiments in transgenic mice can evolve viruses to better infect humans.
Fauci described the CIA’s briefing as “naive” and “extremely strange,” without providing any scientific rationale as to why the intelligence should be dismissed.
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11:33 AM · Jul 29, 2026
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Would also explain why domestic dogs were immediately susceptible. It is documented that domestic dogs became infected with COVID-19 from their owners in Hong Kong in the beginning weeks of the pandemic.
Please see:
Fatal canine parvovirus type 2a and 2c infections in wild Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) in southern China
snip
In summary, in this study, we report the infection of Chinese pangolins with two strains of canine parvovirus type 2 causing diarrheal diseases. These two CPV‐2 strains are closely related to CPV‐2a and CPV‐2c, which are prevalent in China and neighbouring countries, respectively, thereby revealing that the CPV‐2 strains infecting Chinese pangolins are close to those known to be of dog origin. Based on our findings, we recommend that further investigations should be conducted to assess the potential interspecies transmission among wild Chinese pangolins and domestic or feral dogs.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10087772/#:~:text=Viruses%20known%20to%20be%20associated,di stemper%20virus%20(CDV)%2C%20and%20dog
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Nature
. 2020 Oct;586(7831):776-778.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2334-5. Epub 2020 May 14.
Infection of dogs with SARS-CoV-2
Thomas H C Sit 1, Christopher J Brackman 1, Sin Ming Ip 1, Karina W S Tam 1, Pierra Y T Law 1, Esther M W To 1, Veronica Y T Yu 1, Leslie D Sims 2, Dominic N C Tsang 3, Daniel K W Chu 4, Ranawaka A P M Perera 4, Leo L M Poon 4, Malik Peiris 5 6
Affiliations Expand- PMID: 32408337
- PMCID: PMC7606701
- DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2334-5
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in Wuhan in December 2019 and caused coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)1,2. In 2003, the closely related SARS-CoV had been detected in domestic cats and a dog3. However, little is known about the susceptibility of domestic pet mammals to SARS-CoV-2. Here, using PCR with reverse transcription, serology, sequencing the viral genome and virus isolation, we show that 2 out of 15 dogs from households with confirmed human cases of COVID-19 in Hong Kong were found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in five nasal swabs collected over a 13-day period from a 17-year-old neutered male Pomeranian. A 2.5-year-old male German shepherd was positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA on two occasions and virus was isolated from nasal and oral swabs. Antibody responses were detected in both dogs using plaque-reduction-neutralization assays. Viral genetic sequences of viruses from the two dogs were identical to the virus detected in the respective human cases. The dogs remained asymptomatic during quarantine. The evidence suggests that these are instances of human-to-animal transmission of SARS-CoV-2. It is unclear whether infected dogs can transmit the virus to other animals or back to humans.
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I think we can use common sense here:
What are the chances a novel coronavirus just happens to break out in a city where there are 2 government labs experimenting on novel coronaviruses?
And next door to a large live animal market?
AND dogs are already susceptible to the exact same virus as the humans - and in fact - humans can transmit this virus to canines? There was no evolution (i.e. as we are seeing now with H5N1).
Pangolins might be a possible source (see above), but actual dogs, like lab beagles, could be the source too. What if beagles became pets of lab personnel after their use and these lab personnel frequented the live animal market next door? Or the used lab beagles were routinely handed over to vendors at the market? Over some months of percolation in 2019 the right genetic key developed and opened the transmissible and sustainable lock?
This is not far-fetched and is logical.Comment
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Follow-up on post #797
Former Fauci Adviser Pleads Guilty to Trying to Conceal Covid-Related Records
Dr. David Morens, a former N.I.H. official, admitted to attempts to conceal emails that discussed the origins of the pandemic.
By Benjamin Mueller
Aug. 19, 2026, 12:26 p.m. ET
Dr. David Morens, a former adviser to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci at the National Institutes of Health, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to hide federal records related to the origins of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
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In pleading guilty at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., Dr. Morens admitted to working in concert with scientists outside the federal government to protect their federal funding for virus research amid allegations that the scientists had worked on dangerous experiments with collaborators in Wuhan, China, where the Covid pandemic began.
A statement of facts that Dr. Morens agreed to as part of a plea agreement said that he had moved discussions of those experiments onto a personal email account to protect them from being publicly released. He has said that he was trying to protect scientists from baseless charges connected to allegations of a lab leak.
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Press Release
Former Senior NIAID Official Pleads Guilty to Charges Connected to Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic
Tuesday, August 18, 2026
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland – A former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) employee pled guilty in federal court, today, to a conspiracy charge stemming from a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the Federal Records Act in connection with communications about coronavirus research grants.
David M. Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. Morens served as a senior advisor in NIAID’s Office of the Director from 2006 through 2022.
Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Marcus L. Sykes, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).
According to his guilty plea, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, Co-Conspirator 2, and others conspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the United States after NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1’s grant. NIH terminated the grant, Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence, based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. NIAID awarded the grant to Company 1 and Co-Conspirator 1, who made a subaward to the WIV.
Following the termination, Morens and Co-Conspirator 2 pledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. In anticipation that their communications would be requested through FOIA Requests, Morens, Co-Conspirator 1, and Co-Conspirator 2 agreed in writing to intentionally hide their communications from public view by corresponding using Morens’s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.
The co-conspirators used Morens’s personal Gmail account to exchange non-public NIH information; correspond about their efforts to influence NIH to fund Company 1; exchange edits to drafts of letters addressed to NIH leadership for Company 1 and Co-Conspirator 1; and “back-channel” information to Senior NIAID Official 1. According to court documents, each of these matters fell within Morens’s role as senior advisor and constituted federal records that needed to be created, maintained, and exchanged on government systems.
Additionally, as admitted to in his guilty plea, Morens and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired to pay illegal gratuities. Co-Conspirator 1 gifted Morens wine for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans,” and arranged for its delivery to Morens’s Maryland residence. Morens then allegedly identified an official act that he could perform to “deserve” the gift, which was to author a scientific commentary in a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins. Co-Conspirator 1 suggested he would provide Morens with additional things of value, including meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Morens is facing up to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district judge determines sentencing after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and HHS-OIG for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Bijon A. Mostoufi who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/report-fraud.
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