Former adviser pleads guilty to concealing federal COVID-19 records
A former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty Tuesday to plotting to conceal federal records related to research on the origins of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, reports BritPanorama.
Dr. David Morens is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 12 by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. Morens pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government, a felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
“By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did, and he will continue to do so,” defense attorney Tim Belevetz stated following the plea hearing.
Morens is accused of using his private email account to intentionally evade public records laws while employed at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The Justice Department alleges that he concealed or destroyed records of discussions regarding COVID-19 research grants, including efforts to revive a controversial coronavirus grant.
The indictment follows a congressional investigation by House Republicans into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, which scrutinized Morens’ email communications and accused him of deliberately hiding records. In his congressional testimony, Morens denied attempting to evade federal transparency laws by utilizing his personal email.
In July, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a congressional hearing about his handling of the pandemic. Last Friday, he declined a request to appear voluntarily before a second Senate panel after majority Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee voted along partisan lines to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Fauci was not charged in the case against Morens, 78, of Chester, Maryland.
