Trump administration indicts former NIH official over COVID records

The Trump administration has indicted a former National Institutes of Health official over allegations of evading federal records requests related to COVID-19 pandemic research grants and the use ​of personal email for government business, Report informs via Reuters.

A grand jury in Maryland charged David ‌Morens, a senior official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the pandemic, with conspiring to evade records requests received by the agency between April 2020 and December 2022.

The indictment, filed under seal ​April 16 and unsealed on Monday, also names two alleged co-conspirators - a New ​York-based nonprofit organization focused on infectious diseases and a physician at an academic ⁠institution that received NIH grants.

"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," Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a statement announcing the charges on Tuesday.

He faces five charges, including conspiracy; records destruction, ​alteration or falsification in federal investigations and concealment, removal or mutilation of records.