Fauci's top adviser admitted in federal court that he learned to make emails disappear before investigators could find them.
Now three state attorneys general are moving to prosecute Fauci for the crimes Biden's pardon can't cover.
And Peter Navarro just handed them the exact blueprint for putting Fauci behind bars.
David Morens Pleaded Guilty to Destroying Federal COVID Records
David Morens was Fauci's senior scientific adviser for 16 years – the man who briefed him before White House Coronavirus Task Force meetings and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers at his side.
On August 18, Morens pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to conceal COVID-related federal records.
In his own emails, Morens described exactly how he did it.
He learned from the NIAID's FOIA officer "how to make emails disappear after i am foia'd but before the search starts," he wrote, and passed that technique along to co-conspirators in real time.
This isn't leaked documents or an anonymous source – it's Fauci's own closest scientific partner, writing about his own crime, now confirmed in the federal record.
Morens also admitted he used a personal Gmail account to back-channel sensitive information to an unnamed senior NIAID official investigators believe is Fauci.
He admitted Peter Daszak – the EcoHealth president who funneled Fauci-approved grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology – paid him in illegal gratuities, including bottles of wine.
Morens faces up to five years in prison – Fauci got a presidential pardon.
Biden Pardoned Him and Three AGs Said Not So Fast
Joe Biden signed a preemptive federal pardon for Fauci on his last day in office, but it only covers federal crimes.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched his investigation the same afternoon Fauci sat before Rand Paul's Senate committee and refused to answer any questions, invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
Uthmeier has already issued a formal subpoena and is working alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey.
"I don't know why you need a pardon if you didn't do anything wrong," Uthmeier told Fox News.
He is examining fraud, deceptive trade practices, and public nuisance claims under Florida law – specifically whether Fauci personally profited from the COVID guidance he issued while Floridians were locked down and their children masked.
Rand Paul has offered a "mountain of evidence" to Uthmeier's office, including the 1,100-page personal diary that RFK Jr.'s team recovered after an eight-month search across 11 separate government servers where Fauci had kept it hidden.
The Gain-of-Function Funding and Lab Leak Cover-Up That Built the Case
Peter Navarro – who served federal prison time while Fauci collected medals – just published Why Fauci MUST Rot in Prison, and the legal case he builds starts with the money.
Fauci's NIAID awarded EcoHealth Alliance a grant that funneled $598,611 to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Wuhan researchers used those funds to engineer bat viruses specifically designed to infect humans more easily – while working alongside scientists tied to China's People's Liberation Army.
The Department of Defense had reportedly reviewed this same research and refused to fund it over gain-of-function concerns.
Fauci funded it anyway, and NIH never monitored what they were paying for.
Then the cover-up began.
On January 31, 2020, Fauci's own diary records a call where scientists warned him the mutations around the furin-cleavage site "could not have occurred naturally."
Ten of twelve scientists on the follow-up call told Fauci a laboratory origin was plausible.
Within weeks, two of those scientists – who had $8.9 million in grant funding pending Fauci's approval – published the "Proximal Origin" paper in Nature Medicine declaring the virus came from nature.
They never disclosed the conflict.
Fauci's diary confirms he knew, and lead author Kristian Andersen himself acknowledged the paper had been "prompted" by Fauci.
Biden's Pardon Stops at State Lines
The pardon was never about protecting an innocent man from political persecution.
It was about making sure a federal jury never heard what Morens just admitted in open court – that Fauci's inner circle methodically destroyed the evidence while millions of Americans were dying.
But the pardon does not follow Fauci across state lines.
In Florida, prosecutors face no deadline on a case involving someone's death, and state manslaughter law covers exactly what Navarro is describing – a government official whose choices killed people.
Morens is already operating under a plea agreement, which means state investigators can compel his cooperation and put him under oath about exactly what he told Fauci – and when.
Fauci spent five years giving television interviews and signing book deals while children across America lost years of development to masking policies he knew were built on buried science.
He is about to find out that Biden's autopen signature has a geographic limit.
Sources:
- Peter Navarro, "How State Prosecutors Can Send Tony Fauci To Rot In Prison," The Federalist, October 14, 2026.
- Dan McLaughlin, "Former Fauci Adviser David Morens Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Hide Covid-Related Records," National Review, August 18, 2026.
- Tyler Olson, "Florida AG James Uthmeier Says Fauci Probe Could Uncover Grounds for Criminal Liability Despite Pardon," Fox News, August 2026.
- Guy Taylor, "Anthony Fauci Faces New Legal Trouble as Florida Attorney General Issues Subpoena," Washington Times, August 5, 2026.
- Tyler Olson, "Florida AG Threatens Fauci Investigation After Senate Hearing," Fox News, July 30, 2026.
- Byron York, "Former Fauci Aide Pleads Guilty to COVID-19 Conspiracy," Washington Examiner, August 18, 2026.
