quote:

President Donald Trump floated an unsubstantiated claim Thursday that pharmaceutical companies could be pushing for his impeachment because he has tried to reduce drug prices.

During an event in Florida where he signed an executive order related to Medicare, the president highlighted his goal of cutting pharmaceutical costs. He then suggested with no evidence that drug companies could be helping to drive the “the hoax” — the name Trump has given the House Democratic impeachment inquiry into whether the president abused his power by trying to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, one of his chief political rivals.

Trump said:

We’re lowering the cost of prescription drugs, taking on the pharmaceutical companies. You think that’s easy? It’s not easy. They come at you from all different sides. I wouldn’t be surprised if the hoax didn’t come a little bit from some of the people that we’re taking on. They’re very powerful. They spend a lot of money. Spend, I think, more money than any other group in the world, actually, in terms of lobbying and lobbying abilities. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the nonsense that we all have to go through — but that I go through — wouldn’t be surprised if it was from some of these industries like pharmaceuticals that we take on.