Former Fauci Advisor Admits to Evading COVID-19 Research Record Requests

David Morens, previously an advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci and a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), confessed on Tuesday to conspiring to bypass record requests concerning COVID-19 research grants. This was announced by FBI Director Kash Patel.

Patel stated, “After an FBI investigation with Department of Justice (DOJ) collaboration, Dr. Fauci’s associate, David Morens, admitted guilt to conspiracy in a plan to sidestep Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the Federal Records Act linked with COVID-19 research grants.”

The FBI uncovered that Morens and several co-conspirators engaged in a plot during the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the United States after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) canceled Co-Conspirator 1’s grant.

According to Patel, “NIH terminated the grant, ‘Understanding the Risk of Bat coronavirus Emergence,’ due to claims that COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, China. Morens and his co-conspirators then decided to deliberately hide their communications from the public by using Morens’s personal Gmail account instead of his official NIH email.”

Earlier this year, the DOJ charged Morens with conspiracy, destruction, and concealment of federal records and related offenses. Morens faced arraignment on these charges on May 8, 2026, in Greenbelt, Maryland. At this arraignment, allegations were presented that he concealed communications related to virus research from FOIA requests.

It was revealed that Morens had instructed his colleagues to use his private email, bypassing his official NIAID email, as confirmed by emails obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. In one email, Morens advised a colleague, “This is sent from my Gmail account. Please send all replies here to Gmail.”

Morens wrote, “There are ongoing efforts within NIH to navigate this with minimal damage to you, [Co-Conspirator 1], and colleagues, also to NIH and NIAID.”

Additional emails showed Morens writing to EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak. In these communications, Morens mentioned learning how to delete emails before FOIA searches begin. “I learned from your FOIA lady here now how to make emails disappear when I am FOIA’ed,” he wrote in 2021.

Morens further explained in another email, “I forgot to say, there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony on his private email 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.” Daszak’s firm, running EcoHealth, had a federal grant to study coronaviruses in China. He was later barred from receiving federal funds in 2025 for not revealing the grant’s role in gain-of-function virus research.

Morens will face sentencing on November 12 and could receive up to five years in prison. His attorney, Timothy Belevetz, stated that by pleading guilty, Morens is taking responsibility for his actions. Fox News Digital reached out for further comments from Morens’ attorney, DOJ, and NIAID.