The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department said Monday that a federal grand jury indicted David M. Morens, a former senior National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official, on charges tied to an alleged effort to hide records related to COVID-19 research. DOJ said Morens is charged with conspiracy against the United States, destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations, concealment, removal or mutilation of records, and aiding and abetting.

According to the indictment, Morens and others used personal email accounts and other unofficial channels to keep communications off government systems and out of reach of Freedom of Information Act requests. Prosecutors allege the messages involved COVID-19 research grants, including a terminated bat coronavirus grant, and discussions about how to respond to public questions about the origins of COVID-19. DOJ said the case concerns records that should have been created, maintained, and exchanged on government systems.

The government says the conduct covered a period from April 2020 through December 2022. The indictment describes Morens as a senior adviser who could brief senior NIAID officials and help relay information to the White House, Congress, and the public. Like any indictment, the filing is an आरोपation, not a finding of guilt. Morens is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

The case adds a criminal proceeding to a dispute that has already produced years of litigation, congressional scrutiny, and arguments over how federal health officials handled pandemic-era communications. The legal question now is narrower: whether Morens and any co-conspirators deliberately moved government business into private channels and then concealed the resulting records from public disclosure and oversight.