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Fauci contempt vote leaves DOJ 'options'
The Senate committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky pressed for the contempt ruling. Sam Mirejovsky joins LiveNOW from FOX to detail what's ahead.
A former adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty this week to conspiring to conceal public records linked to grant research funding and the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Reuters, Dr. David Morens entered his guilty plea in federal court in Maryland Tuesday.
Who is David Morens?
What we know:
Morens, 78, worked under Fauci as a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the pandemic. Fauci was director of the NIAID for 38 years and became a public figure during the U.S. pandemic response.
FILE: Dr. David Morens appears during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic hearing on Capitol Hill on May 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. A former top adviser to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. …
Morens was indicted in April and accused of trying to conceal public records requests about COVID-19 research grants at the start of the pandemic. Prosecutors say when the National Institutes of Health canceled a research grant for bat coronavirus, Morens worked to get the grant restored and counter public claims that COVID-19 came from a lab leak.
He also reportedly corresponded using his personal email account to avoid Freedom of Information Act requests.
What they're saying:
"By pleading guilty today, Dr. Morens has taken responsibility for what he did, and he will continue to do so," Morens’ lawyer Timothy Belevetz said in a statement to Reuters.
What's next:
He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on November 12.
The backstory:
Morens’ guilty plea comes two weeks after Fauci appeared before a Senate panel last month and repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Fauci accused Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a longtime Fauci critic, of an "unhinged" campaign to see him put in prison.
RELATED: Dr. Fauci held in contempt of Congress by Senate committee
COVID-19 origins
Dig deeper:
The origins of the COVID-19 pandemic are still contested. In 2023, the FBI concluded that a leak from a Wuhan, China laboratory was likely to blame, but China denied those claims.
In January 2025, the CIA said with "low confidence" that a lab leak was likely, but for other intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council believe the pandemic began with natural transmission from an animal.
The Source: This article includes information from Reuters and previous FOX Local reporting.