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Yesterday, Shulkin released a critical response to the report, calling it \"a direct assault on my spouse, my character and my unblemished record of service.\"

\"If you had properly considered my testimony and recognition of the facts of this case, however, I am confident that you would have concluded that I have conducted myself properly, ethically and in line with how I have always served the Veterans Administration,\" he said.

In a thorough 16-page letter responding to the investigation, Shulkin’s lawyers raised “grave concerns” with the IG report, urging the IG not to release it in its current form without significant revisions.

“Your report presents a one-sided account of the circumstances surrounding the Secretary’s trip to Europe. It omits critical facts and pieces of evidence that contradict your chosen narrative and that make clear the Secretary has done nothing wrong,\" the letter states, adding, “Your investigators have relied on interrogation techniques that have long since been recognized as unfair, unreliable, and abusive.”

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