An article summarized by NBC News:
Dr. David Morens, a former senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who worked under Anthony Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in Maryland. The 78-year-old was indicted in April over allegations that he participated in a scheme to avoid public records requests related to COVID-19 research grants. He faces up to five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12th.
According to prosecutors, the case centers on the NIH’s decision to cancel a research grant involving bat coronaviruses after concerns emerged that the research could be connected to theories that COVID-19 originated from a Wuhan laboratory. Prosecutors allege Morens agreed to help restore the grant and push back against the lab-leak narrative. They also said Morens and others anticipated their communications could be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests and therefore used his personal email account instead of his government account.
Morens’ guilty plea comes as the origins of COVID-19 remain unresolved and amid continued political scrutiny of the U.S. pandemic response. Fauci, who led NIAID for nearly four decades, appeared before a Senate panel last month and repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination while accusing Sen. Rand Paul of pursuing an “unhinged” effort to have him imprisoned.
