For years, critics who warned of a secretive “deep state” running a shadow agenda at odds with the elected president and operating beyond public accountability were ridiculed as conspiracy theorists.

The David Morens guilty plea last week offers striking validation that such a shadow system—one that covertly carries out its own agenda in defiance of the law—does in fact exist.

Morens, who served for 16 years as top adviser to Anthony Fauci at NIAID, pleaded guilty to his role in destroying federal records about covering up the origin of the Covid-19 virus.

He also admitted to participating in a secret scheme involving other conspirators to reinstate U.S. funding to the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology. This was after the NIH, under the Trump Administration, had terminated the funding, fearing the pandemic was spawned by gain-of-function research in the low-security laboratory.

However, advocates of this high-risk experimentation, by which a virus has its genes altered and becomes supercharged, were relentless. They finagled a way to have the NIH funding restored. Fauci’s trusted advisor, David Morens, played a pivotal role in this deception.

Morens was indicted in April, and charged with conspiracy, destruction of records in a federal investigation, and concealment of records. He was accused of trying to thwart a long-running government inquiry into the pandemic’s origins. At the time, he denied all culpability.

Last week, he capitulated and pleaded guilty in a plea deal worked out with prosecutors. He faces a maximum sentence of five years plus a fine of up to $250,000.

This is the first time a U.S. court of law has confirmed a conspiracy involving federal officials seeking to distort the scientific record on Covid-19’s origins.

Secret Schemes to Continue Gain-of-Function Research

Court documents reveal that Morens did not act alone. He and at least two co-conspirators used his personal Gmail account to route communications beyond the reach of government records searches.

Morens agreed to author a scientific paper in June 2020 arguing for Covid-19’s “natural” origins (as opposed to a lab leak) in exchange for gifts from Peter Daszak, the president of New York-based EcoHealth Alliance.

Under Daszak’s leadership, EcoHealth had used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, the Select Subcommittee on Pandemic Origins found.

EcoHealth Alliance and Daszak were formally debarred by HHS in 2025, following an eight-month investigation that cited the company’s failure to report potentially hazardous gain-of-function experiments conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; multiple violations of NIH grant terms; and a research progress report submitted two years late.

Prosecutors say that Morens and Daszak hatched a scheme to get the NIH grant restored, and then funneled part of that money to Wuhan, to enable the continuation of gain-of-function experiments. This research is outlawed in America due to the danger the experiments pose.

Emails show that the two discussed “their efforts to influence NIH to restore funding to EcoHealth Alliance, and exchanged edits to letters to NIH leadership lobbying for that aim.

In pursuit of that goal, say prosecutors, Morens and Daszak “concealed their communications” so they could publish papers and articles without directly mentioning Daszak, “to generate the appearance of objective scientific consensus supporting coronavirus research.”

Morens agreed to author a scientific paper that would underline the importance of Daszak’s research, while keeping his own name out of the article to mislead readers into believing it was independent.

He made good on his part of the bargain, soon publishing an article, “The Origin of Covid-19 and Why it Matters.” The paper argued that Covid-19 was born out of “natural” spillover from animals. Ludicrously, the paper claimed Daszak’s research was important to preventing another pandemic.

To the immense satisfaction of the two conspirators, their scheme worked. EcoHealth received a renewal of NIH grants totaling $7.5 million in 2020, some of which was ‘sub-awarded” to the Wuhan lab for gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.

Bottles of Wine, Free Meals at Expensive Restaurants

Prosecutors say the quid pro quo made the men’s arrangement a “criminal gratuity” setup, not merely a government records violation.

According to court documents which cite a host of his emails, Daszak sent bottles of wine to Morens’ Maryland home, thanking him for his “behind-the-scenes shenanigans.” He then offered additional gifts of value, including meals at “Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington, D.C,” prosecutors charged.

“This is the first of what I hope will be a continued series of expressions of gratitude for your advice, support and behind-the-scenes shenanigans in my battle against your boss’s boss, his boss and the ultimate boss on the hill (referring to Donald Trump),” an email from Daszak to Morens said.

The two allegedly used a secret “back-channel” route to forward information about their joint plans to “Senior NIAID Official 1,” which court documents identified as Anthony Fauci.

Morens assured Daszak that he was continuously helping him “behind the scenes.” “My boxing gloves are on and laced up,” Morens said in one message.

In another, he told Daszak: “Let’s win this anti-science battle, get your grant refunded… then settle the scores.” Using foul language, Morens vowed to retaliate against fellow scientists who dared to argue that the pandemic may have resulted from a laboratory accident during controversial research.

This was a position that threatened Daszak, Morens, Fauci and anyone who helped fund gain-of-function research.

Morens’s contemptuous dismissal of scientists whose views clashed with his own bears a disturbing resemblance to the arrogance of his boss, Anthony Fauci, who similarly mocked critics and opponents of Covid vaccine mandates and took satisfaction is their being marginalized. [See Sidebar]

Co-Conspirators at NIH and NIAID

As part of his plea deal finalized last week, Morens admitted taking deceitful actions to suppress the theory that coronavirus tinkering may have caused the pandemic.

He acknowledged that between April 2020 and June 2023, he conspired with two unnamed co-conspirators and others to “defraud the United States by hampering or obstructing, by trickery, deceit, or dishonest means, the legitimate functions” of public health agencies obligated to comply with FOIA and the Federal Records Act.”

As part of the agreement, Morens admitted he had attempted to hide federal records during “an emergency period.” This included destroying and concealing records related to the termination of NIH grant for research on bat coronaviruses at Wuhan, and the subsequent scheme to have that grant reinstated.

The document he signed further states that he had “substantial influence over the decision-making process” at NIAID and used his access to Fauci to impermissibly advance the interests of EcoHealth Alliance.

The Morens emails released by the Congressional committee repeatedly mention Daszak’s name.  The emails show the two men discussing ways to hide their communications with officials at NIH and NIAID.

Politico identified one of these liaisons as Gerald Keusch, a former director of NIH’s Fogarty International Center who now works with the NIAD lab at Boston University.

“Anticipating their communications would be sought through Freedom of Information Act requests,” Reuters reported, “Morens and others agreed to correspond using Morens’ personal Gmail account instead of his government one.”

In one email cited in his indictment, Morens told the others, “We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns, and if we did, we wouldn’t put them in emails and if we found them, we’d delete them.”

In an April 21, 2021, email to Daszak, Morens emphasized the need for hiding their communications and how to circumvent FOIA. “I forgot to say there is no worry about FOIAs. I can either send stuff to Tony [Fauci] 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.”

In a May 13, 2021 email to Keusch with Daszak copied on it, Morens referred to “our ‘secret’ back channel.”

In another email to Keusch dated Nov. 19, 2021, Morens wrote, “BOTH my Gmail and phone calls are now safe. Text is NOT, as it can be FOIA’d, as can my gov’t email. So you and Peter and others should email me on Gmail only.”

Fauci’s former top advisor allegedly even sought help from the NIH FOIA office for instructions on how to delete federal records.

“I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d but before the actual search starts, so I think we are all safe,” he wrote in a Feb. 24, 2021, email. “Plus, I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.”

Congressional investigators identified the FOIA official as Margaret Moore, a former NIH FOIA public liaison, and raised questions about whether others inside the agency helped officials evade transparency requirements. Moore was subpoenaed by the Select Subcommittee and pleaded the Fifth. She has not as yet been charged with a crime.

What stands out about these shocking disclosures is not merely the fact that Morens broke the law, but his striking complacency—and even braggadocio—in describing how he went about it.

He did not write as someone fearful of being caught or ashamed of violating federal “records laws.” On the contrary, his emails convey the expectation that his colleagues would understand and even approve of his methods.

The very individuals to whom he boasted about his methods are now potentially implicated themselves—and could face charges if Morens agrees to testify against them in exchange for a lenient sentence.

According to Director Kash Patel, the FBI is running an ongoing investigation into Morens and his co-conspirators parallel to the DOJ probe. While speculation abounds, it remains unclear at this writing whether Fauci’s former top advisor has ‘flipped’ and has agreed to name his fellow conspirators at NIH and NIAID.

Culture of Lies and Deceit

Morens’ guilty plea does more than expose one official’s misconduct. It opens a window into a culture inside the nation’s premier public-health agencies in which lies and deceit are routine, where laws are treated as obstacles to be circumvented or simply trampled.

When testifying before a House subcommittee on June 3, 2024, Fauci told lawmakers, “With respect to his recent testimony before this Subcommittee, I knew nothing of Dr. Morens’s actions regarding Dr. Daszak, EcoHealth, or his emails.”

Fauci’s diary entries — released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, last month — indicate this was an outright lie. Sen. Paul revealed that Fauci in fact had several private discussions with Morens about the terminated bat coronavirus grants.

Morens himself wrote in earlier emails that Fauci “is now fully aware I think and is, I am told, involved in some sort of damage control” regarding the terminated EcoHealth grant. This would not be surprising as Fauci remained one of the strongest official advocates in the country for gain-of-function research, outsourcing it to China when it was outlawed in the United States.

Were Fauci, Morens and his co-conspirators isolated rogue actors? Or were they products of a deeply entrenched system that operated in the shadows, pursuing their own agenda while circumventing or subverting White House policy—all while co-workers were nodding, winking, or turning a blind eye?

Watershed Moment? Plea Deal Suggests Broader Arrangement with Prosecutors

Although indicted on five counts, Morens pled guilty on a single conspiracy charge. This is a formulation that suggests a broader bargain with prosecutors and potentially more to come, legal experts say.

“These kinds of deals are common in ‘cooperation’ scenarios, in line with the DOJ’s classic technique of starting with the weakest defendant and then rolling the conspiracy up from there, observed Florida attorney and conservative thinker Jeff Childers.

In consideration for his deal, Morens may become a cooperating witness. “By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did, and he will continue to do so,” said his defense attorney Timothy Belevetz.

“The next step is for the government to file a sentencing memo. If any part of that memo is sealed, we’ll know the former NIAID bureaucrat has ‘flipped.’ And his co-conspirators will know it, too,” wrote Childers.

That makes this story about far more than Morens and his boss, Dr. Fauci.

Fauci may have been the most visible face of the pandemic-era public-health establishment, but the Morens case suggests something deeper: an institutional culture in which officials could communicate through private channels, conceal records, obstruct congressional inquiries and manipulate the paper trail.

This travesty suggests a deep state culture in which outwardly patriotic officials and policymakers work behind the scenes to further their own private agenda, in defiance of White House policy and in defiance of transparency laws to which they are supposed to be subject.

As the scandal unfolds, it appears the Morens case is potentially the watershed moment in shining a light on a clandestine underworld, and in seeking long overdue accountability for perhaps the biggest travesty ever foisted upon the American people.

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Bullying Opponents

In a May 2024 Select Subcommittee hearing with David Morens following an extensive investigation, Chairman Brad Wenstrup addressed the intolerance and crudeness of character that jumped out from Morens’ released emails.

“Frankly, some of the documents we received from Dr.

Morens were difficult to read,” Wenstrup observed. “I can’t imagine saying some of the things, let alone putting them in writing. The Select Subcommittee uncovered communications in which Dr. Morens acted inappropriately and entirely unsuitably for a member of the public health service who receives a taxpayer-funded paycheck.”

“It is very disturbing to witness this type of behavior from Dr. Fauci’s senior advisor, but the evidence is clear and overwhelming,” Wenstrup went on. “Dr. Fauci’s NIAID was, unfortunately, less pristine than so many, including the media, would have had us all believe.”

Congressman DR. Paul Ruiz, R-CA, pursued the issue of crude conduct at this hearing, asking Morens why his emails continuously disparaged scientists who took lab-related origin theories seriously, slamming them for “wasting time’’ and “being crazy.’’

“You have every right to evaluate the available evidence and to reach your own conclusion regarding the origins of the novel coronavirus, but the maligning of other viewpoints by someone in your position undermines scientific discourse and reflects poorly on the research institution in which you serve,” Ruiz rebuked Morens.

Culture of Arrogance

Morens’s disdain for scientists who challenged the prevailing narrative is strikingly echoed by the contempt his boss, Anthony Fauci, displayed toward those who questioned Covid vaccination. The mindset of these two bureaucrats spotlights the arrogance at the highest levels of NIAID.

That arrogance was on display in a recorded interview Fauci gave to journalist Michel Specter in 2021, in which he let his public façade momentarily slip as he described the best way to bully Covid vaccines opponents into capitulating.

All that was necessary, he asserted, was to let them feel the sting of rejection at colleges and universities and to experience failure in landing a job.

“You want to come to this college, buddy, you’re gonna get vaccinated!” he sneered. “Big corporations, Amazon, Facebook and others [will say], “Lady, you want to work for us? You get vaccinated!”

“It’s been proven,” Fauci noted derisively, “that when you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological garbage and get vaccinated.”

This jarring recording, revealing Fauci’s contempt for the vaccine-hesitant and his satisfaction in “making it difficult in their lives” was played during a congressional investigation, as he was being questioned about the science behind vaccine mandates.

“Dr. Fauci,” a congressman asked him, “Do you believe that anyone refusing to get vaccinated is doing so because of ‘ideological garbage’?”

The former Chief Medical Advisor to the White House squirmed in his seat, fumbling for a response. “No, that is not what I meant,” he muttered lamely, shamed at having his true character exposed before the world.

Taken together, the Morens emails and Fauci’s own words reveal more than individual arrogance: they expose a pattern in which those entrusted with public health could dismiss dissent, manipulate the rules, and use the machinery of government to silence those who challenged them, believing themselves untouchable.

It is precisely this culture of secrecy, arrogantly holding oneself above the law and the relentless pursuit of private agendas that lends credence to concerns about a “Deep State” operating in the shadows, beyond the reach of public accountability.