by Shane Fisher
The Department of Justice has finally taken formal action against one of the key figures in the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. David Morens, a longtime senior adviser to Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was indicted Tuesday on charges including conspiracy against the United States, destruction or falsification of records, concealment of records, and aiding and abetting.
This development marks a significant step toward restoring public trust eroded by years of evasion, deletions, and apparent efforts to shield inconvenient truths about the pandemic’s origins. For too long, Americans watched as officials in positions of immense power treated transparency as optional and the public’s right to know as an inconvenience to be maneuvered around.
“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. 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.”
The filing of the charges was immediately praised by two powerful investigative chairmen in Congress who had alleged Morens was destroying records and using private email to keep information about the coronavirus and its origins from Congress.
“More than two years ago, my PSI staff discovered and made public emails in which Dr. David Morens bragged to colleagues about his efforts to avoid transparency by destroying federal records and using his personal email to communicate on ‘sensitive issues,'” said Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.