Politics

Donald Trump Slams Martin Shkreli At Press Conference

September 23rd 2015

Donald Trump can't seem to stay out of the headlines. 

This time, the billionaire businessman and GOP front-runner went after Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old pharmaceutical CEO who faced widespread criticism this week for his role in raising the per-pill price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 overnight. 

"He looks like a spoiled brat to me," Trump said at a press conference in South Carolina Wednesday, according to ThinkProgress. "You want to know the truth? He looks like a spoiled brat."

Trump's comments come after days of vicious criticism directed at Shkreli, whose startup Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the lifesaving drug Daraprim in August for $55 million. Shkreli defended the price hike, saying his company wanted to turn a profit on the 62-year-old drug by bumping the price by more than 4,000 percent—an increase that ignited outraged responses, especially when Shkreli's online persona was added to the equation. On Wednesday, Trump joined the fray. 

RELATED: The Internet's Best Responses to Martin Shkreli

"There's something about that one—the way he raised it and to that extent," Trump said. "And then he sat back smug, like he was hot stuff. That guy is nothing. He's zero. He's nothing. He ought to be ashamed of himself."

"And he's a hedge-fund guy—as you know, the only one who I'm raising taxes for. They're going to be paying up," he added, referring to Shkreli's past as a hedge-fund manager. "But I thought it was a disgusting thing, what he did... I thought it was a disgrace." 

Check out ATTN:'s video on pharmaceutical patents for context: 

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