Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, confronted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Thursday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions regarding past campaign contributions from Big Pharma.
“And by the way Bernie, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies — it's in Congress too,” Kennedy told him.
“Almost all the members of this panel, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,” he added to cheers from the gallery.
A flushed Sanders objected to the claim.
“I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC money from the pharmaceutical industry. They came from workers.”
Sanders was “the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money” in 2020, Kennedy fired back as Sanders talked over him.
“Because I had more contributions from workers all over this country,” the senator replied. “Workers! Not a nickel from corporate PACs…from workers in the industry.”
Sen Sanders insisted he did not receive money from the pharma companies themselves or any of their related PACs.
Rather, the $1.4million came from small donations made by employees of those companies and those people's immediate families, and while the donors are associated with pharma companies, the money did not come from the companies themselves.
He also highlighted the $1.5million was small compared to the $200million he received overall in donations during that campaign.
During the 2020 election cycle, records show President Joe Biden received the most money from people connected to the pharmaceutical and/or health products industries, at $13million.
President Donald Trump received the second most at $6.9million and Sen Sanders received the third most at $1.4million, making him the highest recipient of money from that group of any sitting member of Congress that year. (Daily Mail)
RFK Jr: “Bernie, you were the single largest accepter of pharmaceutical dollars.”
— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) January 30, 2025
“The problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies. It's in Congress too.”
“Almost all the members of this panel are accepting—including yourself—millions dollars from the… pic.twitter.com/g6l9T7uo9S