Former Fauci adviser pleads guilty to conspiring to conceal Covid-19 records

Key Points:

• David Morens, a former senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty to conspiring to evade public records laws and conceal government documents related to Covid-19 research funding.
• Morens was indicted in April for allegedly participating in a scheme to thwart public records requests concerning Covid-19 research grants starting in April 2020, and he faces up to five years in prison at his November sentencing.
• Prosecutors stated that Morens’ plea involved efforts to reinstate a canceled bat coronavirus research grant linked to allegations about Covid-19’s origins from a Wuhan lab, and that he used personal email to avoid FOIA requests.
• The case follows Fauci’s recent Senate testimony where he invoked his right against self-incrimination amid political attacks, while the origins of Covid-19 remain unresolved with mixed intelligence assessments on whether it leaked from a lab or emerged naturally.