2026-04-28 18:34:24 UTC / 路透社
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2022年1月20日，美国纽约曼哈顿区，民众走过新冠病毒（COVID-19） pandemic期间的新冠检测标识。路透社/卡洛·阿莱格里/档案照片
华盛顿4月28日路透电 – 特朗普政府已起诉一名美国国立卫生研究院前官员，其被指控逃避联邦关于新冠大流行研究拨款的记录请求，以及使用私人邮箱处理政府公务。
马里兰州大陪审团起诉大卫·莫伦斯——疫情期间美国国家过敏和传染病研究所（NIAID）高级官员——罪名是共谋逃避该机构2020年4月至2022年12月期间收到的记录请求。
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起诉书于4月16日密封提交，周一公开。起诉书同时列出两名同谋——一家总部位于纽约、专注于传染病的非营利组织，以及一家接收美国国立卫生研究院拨款的学术机构的一名医生。
“正如起诉书中所指控的，莫伦斯博士及其同谋故意隐瞒信息、伪造记录，企图压制关于新冠疫情起源的其他理论，”美国代理司法部长托德·布兰奇在周二公布指控的声明中写道。
记者未能立即联系到莫伦斯的置评代表。
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他面临五项指控，包括共谋罪；在联邦调查中销毁、篡改或伪造记录罪，以及隐瞒、转移或毁损记录罪。
这起起诉书是美国共和党籍总统唐纳德·特朗普政府在其第一任白宫任期内，针对2019年末开始导致全球大部分地区停摆的新冠病毒起源相关的最新行动。
世界卫生组织和多数科学家认为，病毒从自然环境溢出是疫情最可能的起因。由于中国缺乏相关数据，相关调查一直受阻，但美国情报部门去年表示，实验室泄漏可能是疫情起因。
美国共和党主导的参议院委员会也在调查疫情起源，包括向顶级医学期刊《柳叶刀》发出记录调取请求。
部分共和党人士指责美国国家过敏和传染病研究所前所长安东尼·福奇博士压制新冠病毒源自中国实验室泄漏的理论。福奇强烈否认压制该理论，并在2024年对美国众议院小组委员会表示，他从未影响过关于病毒起源的研究。
作为福奇顾问的莫伦斯去年也被共和党主导的新冠疫情小组委员会传唤作证，该委员会调取了他的数万封电子邮件，包括他与这位NIAID负责人之间的通信。
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Trump administration indicts former NIH official over COVID records
2026-04-28 18:34:24 UTC / Reuters
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People walk past a COVID-19 testing sign during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 20, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – 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.
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.
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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 U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a statement announcing the charges on Tuesday.
Representatives for Morens could not be immediately reached for comment on the allegations.
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He faces five charges, including conspiracy; records destruction, alteration or falsification in federal investigations and concealment, removal or mutilation of records.
The indictment is the latest action by Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration related to the origins of the coronavirus that shuttered much of the world starting in late 2019 during his first term in the White House.
The World Health Organization and most scientists say a spillover from nature was the most likely cause for the pandemic. Investigations have been hampered by a lack of data from China, but U.S. intelligence services said last year that a lab leak was probably the cause.
A Republican-led U.S. Senate panel is also probing the origins of the pandemic, including a records request to leading medical journal the Lancet.
Some Republicans have accused former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci of suppressing the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in China. Fauci has strongly denied suppressing that theory, telling a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in 2024 he never influenced research on the origins of the virus.
Morens, an adviser to Fauci, was also called to testify last year by the Republican-led subcommittee on COVID, which subpoenaed tens of thousands of his emails including those between him and the NIAID head.
Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by David Gaffen
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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