Dr. Anthony Fauci, you are recognized for five minutes
for your opening statement.
Member Peters, members of the committee,
I served at the NIH for over 54 years,
38 of those as director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Over that period, I proved that I believe in and respect
the value of legitimate congressional oversight.
In fact, I testified before and or briefed
Senate and House congressional,
Senate and House committees well over 200 times
over those 38 years.
During and after the COVID pandemic,
I have appeared multiple times for hearings
in the Senate and the House,
usually under oath and sat for several days long,
transcribed, sworn interviews,
answering questions about the very issues
that are now the subject of this hearing.
However, given Senator Paul's obvious obsession
with calling for my prosecution,
his repeated slanderous comments about me,
and recently his publicly releasing
my unredacted personal diary aimed at
embarrassing and intimidating me,
the only conclusion I can reach
is that the sole reason he is calling me
before this committee is to get me to say something,
anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges
that I end up in his words, quote,
behind bars, unquote.
Any reasonable person who was followed
his unhinged obsession with me would readily come
to the same conclusion.
Therefore, although it pains me to do so
because of the respect I have for the legislative branch
of government and my decades-long record
of cooperating with Congress under the advice of my attorneys,
I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment
of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.
Thank you.