{"id":2596162,"date":"2026-04-28T13:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-indicts-faucis-right-hand-man-for-allegedly-circumventing-open-records-requests\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T13:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:34:03","slug":"doj-indicts-faucis-right-hand-man-for-allegedly-circumventing-open-records-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-indicts-faucis-right-hand-man-for-allegedly-circumventing-open-records-requests\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Indicts Fauci&#8217;s Right-Hand For Allegedly Dodging FOIA"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdoj-indicts-faucis-right-hand-man-for-allegedly-circumventing-open-records-requests%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2596162&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Department of Justice indicted David Morens, a former senior adviser to Anthony Fauci (2006-2022), alleging he helped run an unlawful \u201cscheme\u201d to conceal records and influence public and agency decision-making around COVID-19 research grants. DOJ says Morens and others conspired after NIH terminated a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/explosive-report-reveals-new-details-on-coronavirus-research-in-chinese-labs-including-third-lab\/\" title=\"Explosive Report Reveals New Details On Coronavirus Research In Chinese Labs, Including Third Lab\">bat coronavirus grant<\/a> connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, aimed at both suppressing communications that woudl be revealed through FOIA and reshaping the narrative about how COVID-19 originated.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors allege Morens used his personal Gmail instead of official NIH email to exchange non-public information and coordinate actions, including edits to letters to NIH leadership and \u201cback-channel\u201d communications to NIAID officials. The indictment also claims Morens and a co-conspirator conspired to pay illegal gratuities-described as wine delivered to Morens that prosecutors say was tied to an \u201cofficial act\u201d involving a scientific commentary supporting natural origins of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>the article ties the allegations to previously released House Republican records suggesting Morens corresponded about avoiding open-records scrutiny. It notes Morens allegedly wrote that his NIH email was frequently subject to FOIA and that he tried to communicate via Gmail for that reason. If convicted, the DOJ says Morens faces substantial potential prison time, with charges carrying maximum penalties ranging up to 20 years per count for falsifying or altering records, and up to five years for conspiracy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Department of Justice indicted a former senior adviser to Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/anthony-fauci\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Anthony Fauci<\/a> on Tuesday for allegedly partaking in an unlawful \u201cscheme\u201d to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >avoid open records requests related<\/a> to Covid-19 research grants. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese allegations represent a profound abuse of trust at a time when the American people needed it most \u2014 during the height of a global pandemic,\u201d Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/former-senior-niaid-official-indicted-concealing-federal-records-during-covid-19-pandemic-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> announcing the charges. \u201cGovernment officials have a solemn duty to provide honest, well-grounded facts and advice in service of the public interest \u2014 not to advance their own personal or ideological agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/former-senior-niaid-official-indicted-concealing-federal-records-during-covid-19-pandemic-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DOJ press release<\/a>, Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/david-morens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Morens<\/a> has been charged with \u201cconspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting.\u201d Morens previously served as senior adviser to Fauci \u2014 the now-former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) \u2014 from 2006-2022. <\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department noted several key allegations against Morens, including that he, two co-conspirators, and others \u201cconspired during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud and commit several offenses against the United States after [the National Institutes of Health] NIH terminated Co-Conspirator 1\u2019s grant.\u201d The NIH ended the grant based on allegations that the Covid virus came as the result of a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China, according to the agency. <\/p>\n<p>Some <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HansMahncke\/status\/2049130566264496456?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">observers<\/a> have suggested that Co-Conspirator 1 is former EcoHealth Alliance President <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/peter-daszak\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Peter Daszak<\/a>. As Federalist Senior Contributor Helen Raleigh previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/02\/28\/fauci-and-ecohealths-peter-daszak-silenced-lab-leak-conspiracy-theory-congress-shouldnt-let-them-forget-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in these pages, from 2014-2020, EcoHealth sent \u201cmore than half a million dollars\u2019 worth of U.S. government grants, including those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Anthony Fauci\u2019s approval, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to conduct gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daszak previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/02\/5-takeaways-from-peter-daszaks-testimony-on-u-s-funded-coronavirus-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dismissed<\/a> the lab leak theory as a \u201cconsipracy theor[y].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Health and Human Services <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/release\/breaking-hhs-formally-debars-ecohealth-alliance-dr-peter-daszak-after-covid-select-reveals-pandemic-era-wrongdoing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">formally cut off federal funding and debarred<\/a> EcoHealth and Daszak last year for five years over the organization\u2019s reckless coronavirus research. <\/p>\n<p><strong>[RELATED:[RELATED:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/02\/5-takeaways-from-peter-daszaks-testimony-on-u-s-funded-coronavirus-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">5 Takeaways From Peter Daszak\u2019s Testimony On U.S.-Funded Coronavirus Research<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the DOJ\u2019s summary of the indictment, Morens and an individual identified as Co-Conspirator 2 \u201cpledged to help Co-Conspirator 1 restore the termination of the bat coronavirus grant and counter the narrative that COVID-19 leaked from a lab.\u201d The agency noted how, \u201cIn anticipation that their communications would be requested through a [Freedom of Information Act] FOIA Request,\u201d Morens and the two co-conspirators allegedly \u201cagreed in writing to intentionally hide from public view their communications by corresponding using Morens\u2019s personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email account.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe indictment alleges that the conspirators used Morens\u2019s 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 \u2018back-channel\u2019 information to Senior NIAID Official 1,\u201d the DOJ presser reads. \u201cAccording to the indictment, each of these matters fell within Morens\u2019s role as senior advisor and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-gop-investigates-nih-foia-officer-in-covid-19-cover-up-inquiry\/\" title=\"House GOP probes ... FOIA officer in COVID-19 concealment investigation\">constituted federal records<\/a> that needed to be created, maintained, and exchanged on government systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department further noted allegations that Morens and Co-Conspirator 1 \u201cconspired to pay illegal gratuities,\u201d with the indictment contending that the latter gifted the former \u201cwine for his \u2018behind-the-scenes shenanigans,\u2019 and arranged for its delivery to Morens\u2019s residence in Maryland.\u201d Per the agency, Morens then purportedly \u201cidentified an official act\u201d that he could undertake to \u201cdeserve\u201d the gifted item, which \u201cwas a scientific commentary in a prominent medical journal advocating that COVID-19 had natural origins.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fauci\u2019s senior advisor David Morens once bragged that FOIA never turns up anything useful. How sweet it is that FOIA just got him indicted. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LllNKLPPOc\">https:\/\/t.co\/LllNKLPPOc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HansMahncke\/status\/2049129019539366339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 28, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The indictment\u2019s allegations seemingly align with findings unearthed in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/30\/records-suggest-top-nih-official-squashed-lab-leak-theory-for-fauci-used-personal-email-to-hide-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">records previously released<\/a> by House Republicans. Those documents appeared to show Morens corresponding with Daszak about evading open records requests. <\/p>\n<p>In one Sept. 9, 2021, email to several colleagues and Daszak, for example, Morens reportedly wrote, \u201cI try to always communicate over gmail because my NIH email is FOIA\u2019d constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday my gmail was hacked, probably by these [gain-of-function] -ssholes, and until IT can get it fixed I may have to occasionally email from my NIH account,\u201d Morens wrote. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, just send to any of my addresses and I will delete anything I don\u2019t want to see in the New York Times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The unearthed emails also suggested that Fauci had instructed Morens to speak with legacy media in an apparent effort to downplay the lab leak theory, as The Federalist previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/30\/records-suggest-top-nih-official-squashed-lab-leak-theory-for-fauci-used-personal-email-to-hide-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>. President Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/biden-pardons-mark-milley-anthony-fauci-j6-committee-members\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">granted<\/a> Fauci a sweeping pre-emptive pardon hours before leaving office. <\/p>\n<p>According to the DOJ, if convicted, Morens could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; a maximum of 20 years for \u201ceach count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations;\u201d and a maximum of three years for \u201ceach count of concealment, removal, or mutilation of records.\u201d The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Bijon A. Mostoufi for the District of Maryland.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The DOJ indicted David Morens, alleging he helped evade FOIA requests tied to COVID-19 research grants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2596163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/David-Morens.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[48852,7076,9507],"class_list":["post-2596162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-anthony-fauci","tag-doj","tag-foia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/David-Morens.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2596166,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596162\/revisions\/2596166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2596163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}