Former Fauci adviser indicted for attempting to avoid FOIA laws

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Tuesday announced the indictment of David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci within the National Institutes of Health, for his alleged scheme to keep public records away from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

The DOJ said in a press release that Morens was being 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.”

In 2024, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released evidence of Morens using his personal email, outside the scope of FOIA requests, to discuss NIH grants with the infectious disease group EcoHealth Alliance.

“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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“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,” he added. “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.”

Morens’s communications suggested a quid pro quo relationship with the organization though he claimed he used his personal address to avoid “more embarrassment and danger” to the head of EcoHealth when appearing before the subcommittee. The revelations earned him the ire of both Republicans and Democrats on the special subcommittee.

If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison for each count of concealment of records, up to five for conspiracy against the U.S. and up to 20 years for each count of destruction of records

Morens seemed to suggest in some emails that Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was aware of his misconduct. In one exchange, he wrote, “I can either send stuff to Tony on his private gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.”

Fauci for his part disavowed Morens, saying that he “knew nothing” of the emails, describing his former colleague as “not an adviser to me on institute policy or other substantive issues.”

“[To] the best of my knowledge I have never conducted official business via my personal email,” he wrote in an opening statement ahead of his own hearing before the subcommittee in 2024.

President Trump’s allies celebrated Morens’s indictment.

“Weaponization of the USG by its senior members in a time of global pandemic, who were entrusted to protect us. They violated that trust and the law- destroyed records the public had every right to see. They covered up and got caught by this @FBI and @TheJusticeDept,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on social media

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), former chair of the COVID special subcommittee, said in a statement, “We caught Dr. Morens red-handed as he boasted in emails about how the ‘FOIA lady’ coached him on how to hide records and cover-up information.”

“I applaud the Trump Justice Department for taking action to hold this public official accountable for hiding information from the American people,” Comer continued. “No one is above the law and under the Trump Administration, overdue accountability is finally here.”