President Donald Trump spurned campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry on Wednesday, calling the industry out for its role in a national opioid addiction epidemic.
“I don’t want their money,” Trump said at an event on drug addiction in Atlanta. “They have got to do what is right.”
Trump’s administration has stepped up scrutiny of pharmaceutical companies as part of an initiative to combat addiction to prescription painkillers. Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged opioid distributor Rochester Drug Cooperative and its former chief executive with felonies — the first case of its kind related to the opioid crisis.
“We are holding big pharma accountable,” Trump said.