Vilified drug CEO stonewalls Congress, later does video chat with public
Martin Shkreli showed up for a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, with the much-vilified former hedge fund manager and Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO pleading his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in repeatedly declining to respond to questions.
But that didn't stop him from taking questions from the general public on social media afterwards. Shkreli has been nicknamed "pharma bro" for his regular online sessions.
Despite his millions, Shkreli looked like a college kid -- he wore a white t-shirt, and squirmed in a swivel chair in a room filled with electronic equipment that looked liked a random dorm room.
Questions for Shkreli ranged from pharmaceuticals to testifying before Congress to politics.
"What would you say to Hillary Clinton if you could debate her right now?" one person asked.
"So there's one thing you guys should know about me, I'm only an expert on one or two things if that," Shkreli said. "I know a lot about pharmaceuticals and drug development. I don't know anything about sociology or government or anthropology or history or... there's tons of areas of even of science that I have very little clues on... I don't like to talk about things that I don't know anything about.... She knows a little bit about everything because her job is different than mine."
Congress wasn't the only one Shkreli stonewalled. When CBS News' Valdimir Duthiers joined the online video chat, Shkreli immediately shut him down.
"Are you a member of the media?" he asked Duthiers.
"I am. I'm with CBS News," Duthiers answered.
"I can't really talk to any media representatives, you have to talk to my lawyer," Shkreli said, hanging up on Duthiers. "I don't trust the media. The media kind of sucks."
To see more of Shkreli's video chat, watch the video above.
Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressed their outrage during the hearing, with Maryland's Elijah Cummings lecturing Shkreli on Turing's behavior, which included a decision to increase the price of a life-saving pill to $750 each from $13.50.
As Cummings spoke about how the 5,000 percent increase in the drug Daraprim harmed people, Shkreli smiled, sparking a rebuke from the lawmaker.
"It's not funny Mr. Shkreli, people are dying, and they are getting sicker and sicker," Cummings, the panel's ranking Democrat, said. "Testimony from drug companies today will be the same -- the difference today is we have looked beyond their smoke screen," he added, referring to research by congressional investigators that Turing drove up the price of Daraprim to boost its profits.
While refraining from answer lawmakers, Shkreli expressed his views shortly after leaving the hearing on Twitter, calling the lawmakers "imbeciles."
His insulting tweet drew a quick and taunting response from California Democrat Ted Lieu, a member of the panel that called Shkreli to Capitol Hill
The tweet was also noted at the hearing itself, with Cummings learning of it as Nancy Retzlaff, Turing's chief commercial officer, was testifying.
Loudly referring to an internal company document in which a Turing staffer joked about the price hike, he told the executive: "You all spent all of your time strategizing about how to hide your price increase ... and coming up with stupid jokes while other people were sitting there trying to figure out how they were going to survive."