David Morens, the longtime senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses and to defraud the United States.
Morens, 78, entered the plea in federal court in Maryland under an agreement with prosecutors.
The charges stem from Morens’ role in a scheme to evade Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Department of Justice, Morens and his co-conspirators used his personal Gmail account to hide communications about restoring NIH funding to EcoHealth Alliance’s controversial bat coronavirus grant, the same grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology that was terminated over lab-leak concerns.
Additionally, Morens co-authored papers that dismissed the lab-leak theory as “thoroughly discredited” and promoted the natural-origin narrative while protecting EcoHealth Alliance and its Chinese partners.
According to the DOJ announcement of the guilty plea:
“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.”
As The Gateway Pundit has previously reported, Morens worked to undermine Trump’s 2020 ban on gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called it “a profound abuse of trust” at the height of the pandemic.
Hellbound and Down 