00:00I served at the NIH for over 54 years, 38 of those as Director of the National Institute
00:07of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
00:10Over that period, I proved that I believe in and respect the value of legitimate congressional
00:17oversight.
00:18In fact, I testified before and or briefed Senate and House committees, well over 200
00:29times over those 38 years.
00:33However, given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated
00:43slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal
00:53diary, aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that
01:03the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything
01:11that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, behind
01:20bars, unquote.
01:22Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the
01:32same conclusion.
01:34Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch
01:43of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice
01:51of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain
01:58from answering your questions.
