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

Aug 19, 2026

David Morens, a former senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty on August 18, 2026, to conspiring to evade public records laws. Morens admitted to using his personal email to bypass Freedom of Information Act requests regarding a canceled National Institutes of Health grant for bat coronavirus research. The plea follows a July 2026 Senate hearing where his former boss, Anthony Fauci, invoked his right against self-incrimination.

Morens guilty plea

▪David Morens faces up to five years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 12, 2026, following his August 18, 2026, guilty plea.
▪David Morens, a former senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pleaded guilty on August 18, 2026, to conspiring to evade public records laws.

COVID-19 grant cancellation

▪The canceled National Institutes of Health research grant involved a China-based laboratory in Wuhan that received a sub-award from the company holding the grant.
▪David Morens's guilty plea related to the National Institutes of Health's decision to cancel a research grant studying bat coronaviruses.

Wuhan lab leak allegations

▪The National Institutes of Health canceled the bat coronavirus research grant based on allegations that COVID-19 emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
▪David Morens pledged to help restore the canceled bat coronavirus grant and counter narratives that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Personal email FOIA evasion

▪David Morens and others agreed to use Morens's personal email account instead of his government account to evade Freedom of Information Act requests.
▪David Morens was indicted in April 2026 for a scheme to thwart public records requests received by his agency starting in April 2020.

Fauci Senate testimony

▪During his July 2026 Senate testimony, Anthony Fauci accused Republican Senator Rand Paul of pursuing an unhinged campaign to see him imprisoned.
▪Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci appeared before a Senate panel in July 2026 and repeatedly invoked his right against self-incrimination.

COVID origins intelligence dispute

▪The Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2023 and the Central Intelligence Agency in January 2025 stated that a Wuhan laboratory leak likely caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
▪Four United States intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe the COVID-19 virus most likely emerged via natural transmission from an animal.