Business

Watch Martin Shkreli Smirk And Glare At House Members While Invoking Fifth Amendment Rights [VIDEO]

Steve Guest Media Reporter
Font Size:

Martin Shkreli, noted pharmaceutical “bad boy” and connoisseur of expensive Wu Tang Clan albums, at times smirked and glared at members of Congress while appearing before the House Oversight Committee Thursday.

Shkreli repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and was dismissed after less than 10 minutes.

Shkreli was asked to appear in front of the committee to testify about price gouging of pharmaceutical drugs after his company’s raised the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent. Daraprim is a life-saving drug used to treat AIDS. (RELATED: Congress Subpoenas Pharma Exec Martin Shkreli Over Drug Pricing)

For much of the questioning, Shkreli rolled his eyes, fiddled with his hands and refused to look at the committee members directly. Shkreli’s most common reply to members of the committee was, “On the advice of council, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.”

When asked by Republican South Carolina Rep. [crscore]Trey Gowdy[/crscore] how to pronounce his last name, Shkreli answered the congressman with an affirmative, “Yes, sir.” But he refused to answer any other questions. (RELATED: FBI Arrests Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli)

Later, when Democratic Rep. [crscore]Elijah Cummings[/crscore] urged Shkreli to change his ways, the witness smirked and averted eye contact, causing Cummings to ask, “Are you listening?” The “pharma bad boy” responded, “Yes,” but only after hearing advice from his lawyer.

While Cummings was speaking, Shkreli appeared to be on the verge of laughter, when Cummings gave him a verbal tongue lashing.

“Drug company executives are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation — It’s not funny, Mr. Shkreli,” Cummings exclaimed. “People are dying, and they’re getting sicker and sicker.”

After almost 10 minutes of Shkreli not answering the committee’s questions, the chair of the committee, Rep. [crscore]Jason Chaffetz[/crscore] dismissed Shkreli out of respect for his Fifth Amendment rights.

After appearing before the House committee, Shkreli vented his animosity toward Congress on Twitter.

Shkreli also retweeted tweets from some of his “supporters.”

WATCH:

Follow Steve on Twitter and Facebook

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel