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Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are recognized for five minutes

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for your opening statement.

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Member Peters, members of the committee,

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I served at the NIH for over 54 years,

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38 of those as director of the National Institute

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of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

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Over that period, I proved that I believe in and respect

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the value of legitimate congressional oversight.

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In fact, I testified before and or briefed

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Senate and House congressional,

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Senate and House committees well over 200 times

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over those 38 years.

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During and after the COVID pandemic,

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I have appeared multiple times for hearings

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in the Senate and the House,

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usually under oath and sat for several days long,

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transcribed, sworn interviews,

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answering questions about the very issues

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that are now the subject of this hearing.

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However, given Senator Paul's obvious obsession

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with calling for my prosecution,

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his repeated slanderous comments about me,

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and recently his publicly releasing

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my unredacted personal diary aimed at

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embarrassing and intimidating me,

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the only conclusion I can reach

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is that the sole reason he is calling me

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before this committee is to get me to say something,

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anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges

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that I end up in his words, quote,

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behind bars, unquote.

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Any reasonable person who was followed

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his unhinged obsession with me would readily come

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to the same conclusion.

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Therefore, although it pains me to do so

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because of the respect I have for the legislative branch

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of government and my decades-long record

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of cooperating with Congress under the advice of my attorneys,

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I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment

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of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.

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Thank you.