Pharma companies could be behind impeachment moves, says Trump

President Donald Trump has suggested that pharma companies could be behind moves to impeach him, but has not offered evidence to back up the claim.

In what looks to be a characteristic outburst Trump said that pharma could be behind the Democrats’ move to impeach him.

The impeachment process announced in September is over Trump’s alleged attempts to get the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of his potential presidential rival Joe Biden.

But Trump has offered no evidence to support the claims he made at an event in Florida, where he signed an executive order aimed at improving Medicare plans for older people.

According to press reports, Trump said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if the hoax didn’t come a little bit from some of the people that we’re taking on. They’re very powerful.

“They spend a lot of money. Spend, I think, more money than any other group in the world, actually, in terms of lobbying and lobbying abilities.

“And I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the nonsense that we all have to go through - but that I go through - was from some of these industries like pharmaceuticals that we take on.”

CNBC reported a spokesperson for the US trade group for branded pharma companies PhRMA immediately denied the president’s allegation.

When approached for comment a PhRMA spokesperson told CNBC said that “it is ridiculous you are asking me about it. Of course we are not (pushing for impeachment).”

Trump’s comments come at a time when pharma companies have come under fire from the two main political parties in the US.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has spearheaded the move to impeach Trump, has also been pushing for controls on drug prices in the US.

Pelosi’s plan would allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on as many as 250 drugs and apply those discounts to private health plans too – a policy prohibited under current rules.

Trump has also claimed that the impeachment inquiry could make it harder for him to work with Democrats on policies to cut drug costs, a view shared by some Wall Street analysts, CNBC said.