Martin Shkreli called Rep. Trey Gowdy “conniving” for his questions during a confrontational hearing in which Shkreli didn’t answer questions on his decision to jack up the price for a needed drug.
Shkreli, speaking on an online chat called Blab, sounded off on the House Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday. He took the Fifth Amendment in response to the queries from lawmakers, which focused on his tenure as CEO at Turing Pharmaceuticals, which jacked up the price of the anti-malarial drug Daraprim by 5,000 percent.
Gowdy, however, said Shkreli could answer questions that aren’t related to a federal indictment on securities fraud charges. Shkreli said he would stick with the advice of his lawyer.
“It was very conniving for him to try to give me legal advice and trick me into waiving my constitutional privilege,” Shkreli said on Blab in response to a question about the hearing.
Gowdy said during the hearing that Shkreli has made all sorts of statements online recently about how he would go to Congress to educate lawmakers on the pharmaceutical industry.
“He didn’t have to be prodded to talk or tweet a whole lot or show us his life on that little webcam he’s got,” Gowdy said, noting the hours of web streaming Shkreli did.
Gowdy even said Shkreli could talk about the Wu-Tang Clan, then asked whether that was the name of a group or the name of the sole copy of an album that Shkreli bought for $2 million. It is the name of the group.
Gowdy’s office did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday evening.
Shkreli did address why he went after the committee on social media but not at the hearing. Immediately after he left the hearing, Shkreli tweeted that the lawmakers were “imbeciles.”
“The courtroom is sworn testimony,” he said. “Sworn testimony to the government can be used in a different way than Blab, which is a little more forgiving.”
He said he asked to do a closed-door session but the committee declined. Shkreli called the hearing “an advertisement for them. It was a way for them to look good and feel good.”
“Obviously I want to talk,” Shkreli said, who ended the live stream after strumming a few chords on his guitar.
