U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. seemingly revealed Big Pharma paid President Donald Trump $100 million but added “he can’t be bought.”
The president and RFK Jr. held a joint press conference in the White House on Monday to reveal an executive order that plans to dramatically reduce the cost of prescription drugs for Americans. While speaking, the health secretary discussed Trump’s previous business dealings with some of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest players.
“President Trump was taking money from the pharmaceutical industry too. I think they gave you $100 million,” RFK Jr said while turning back to address the president, who nodded and hummed in agreement. “But he can’t be bought,” the health secretary added.
As clips of the exchange circulated across social media platforms, many questioned whether the pair meant to expose how much Trump has accepted from pharmaceutical and lobbying interests.
“Wow, was that a fraudian slip or did he glitch?” a TikTok user wondered.
“I guess DOGE missed that,” another added.
RFK Jr seemingly intended to show that although Trump accepted the money he did not follow through on the companies’ interests. However, pharmaceutical stocks rose sharply after the announcement, prompting speculation that the executive order may be more symbolic than substantive.
“We don’t completely discount the possibility that the EO could eventually lead to some one-off deals, but the order itself is so vague that it’s difficult to predict the exact impact it may have,” Kim Monk, a managing director at Capital Alpha Partners, told Axios.
Other experts speculated the press conference was an attempt to distract Americans from Republicans’ ongoing efforts to cut Medicaid.
“That is probably as good of an explanation as any,” Chris Meekins, an analyst at Raymond James, told Axios.
Originally published on Latin Times
