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EpiPen price hike puts bipartisan heat on Democratic senator's daughter

Good Old Democrats

The mounting congressional scrutiny of pharmaceutical giant Mylan over its 400 percent price hike for EpiPen has created an awkward situation on Capitol Hill for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin -- his daughter runs the company at the center of the scandal. 
Colleagues on both sides of the aisle, as well as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, are now slamming Mylan and demanding investigations into why prices were jacked so high on the lifesaving allergy treatment drug.
The uproar over the increase has become a public relations nightmare for Mylan, CEO Heather Bresch and Manchin, who finally broke his silence on the subject Thursday.
“I am aware of the questions my colleagues and many parents are asking and frankly I share their concerns about the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs,” Manchin said in a written statement. “Today I heard Mylan’s initial response, and I am sure Mylan will have a more comprehensive and formal response to those questions.”
Manchin, a former West Virginia governor who has served in the U.S. Senate since 2010, said he would work with his “colleagues and all interested parties to lower the price of prescription drugs and to continue to improve our health care system.”
But his comments come days after his colleagues called out his daughter’s company.
Several senators – including Amy Klobuchar, whose daughter uses an EpiPen – have pressed the Food and Drug Administration for answers and asked if alternatives to the EpiPen are in the works.
Klobuchar also wants the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing to investigate the enormous increase in the price of EpiPens. The Minnesota senator sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether Mylan violated antitrust laws. 
For its part, the company said Thursday it is voluntarily reducing the patient cost of EpiPen through savings cards which will cover up to $300 for a two-pack of EpiPen, but some say it’s not enough.
Admittedly, Manchin is in a tight spot. In the past, he has taken the lead in going after pharmaceutical companies.
He played a big role in pushing to get controversial painkiller Zohydro ER permanently shelved despite the FDA approving the powerful opiate.
Manchin, whose home state leads the nation in prescription overdoses and abuse, worked with both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers to overturn the approval.
At the time, some questioned his motives, since his campaign to kill Zohydro could benefit his daughter’s company.
Though the Mylan epi-scandal hits close to home, Klobuchar believes the senior senator’s connections in Congress won’t deter his colleagues from pursuing answers.
“I think we have an obligation to the American people to do our job regardless of who is related to who at a company,” she told reporters Wednesday. “And I have never seen Senator Manchin intervene himself in any of these cases involving this company. I’ve never seen that happen. I know him very well.”
On Monday, Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mark Warner, D-Va., also sent a letter to Bresch demanding an explanation. 
Bresch tried to defend the company's pricing in an interview with CNBC. She seemed to struggle to justify the jump in price but said lowering the price wasn’t an option.
“Had we reduced the list price, I couldn’t ensure that everyone who needs an EpiPen gets one,” she said. She argued that much of the $608 price for a two-pack goes to other middle men in the health care consumer chain. 
But Grassley said in a statement that the price is still what Medicare and insurers have to pay, regardless of the pledge to offset the cost for some patients. 
Another fact not lost on angry customers is that as the price for EpiPens grew, so did Bresch’s own compensation, which spiked more than 671 percent to $18.9 million last year.
The price hike debate has also made it to the campaign trail.
Clinton called the company’s pricing strategy “outrageous” and a “troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers.”

BIAS ALERT: Media looks inward, deems slanted Trump coverage warranted

BIAS ALERT: Media consumed with Trump

Donald Trump’s claim that the “crooked media” has it in for him has prompted much soul-searching with the Fourth Estate, and its conclusion appears to be that he's right -- and that's just fine with some news organizations. 
“I’m not running against Crooked Hillary,” Trump told a crowd in Fairfield, Conn., last week. “I’m running against the crooked media.”
Lately some, including The New York Times, Vox and Bill Moyers’ website, have not only owned up to Trump's accusation, they've embraced it.
“If you deplore media cowardice, you might think this is a good thing, not because Trump is a mortal danger to this country, although he is, but because it means the press is doing its job,” Neil Gabler wrote on the journalism website of Moyers, the longtime PBS newsman who cut his teeth as a spokesman for Democratic President Lyndon Johnson. “Call it partisan bias if you like. I call it journalism.”
Ezra Klein, the Vox writer who as a Washington Post staffer organized a secret society of left-wing reporters dubbed “JournoList” that was shut down after it was exposed in 2010, acknowledged that the press is not giving Trump traditional treatment.
“The media has felt increasingly free to cover Trump as an alien, dangerous, and dishonest phenomenon,” Klein wrote last week.
New York Times’ media critic Jim Rutenberg wrote that journalists who personally oppose Trump had an obligation to “throw out the textbook” when it came to coverage of The Donald.
“If you’re a working journalist and you believe that Donald J. Trump is a demagogue playing to the nation’s worst racist and nationalistic tendencies, that he cozies up to anti-American dictators and that he would be dangerous with control of the United States nuclear codes, how the heck are you supposed to cover him?” Rutenberg wondered in a front-page article earlier this month.
When it comes to covering Trump, it’s only fair to be unfair, according to The Atlantic.
“All things considered, the press has responded defensibly to the unusual challenges of covering a brazen, habitual liar,” Conor Friedersdorf wrote in a recent column titled, “The Exaggerated Claims of Media Bias Against Donald Trump.”
If Trump is confused by the media’s stance that it has been fair by being biased, he can take comfort in a new study on his treatment by the press since he entered the political arena.
Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy tracked his coverage by CBS, Fox, the Los Angeles Times, NBC, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. It concluded that through its coverage of Trump, both good and bad, the media helped him get the Republican nomination.

Republican calls grow for second look at Clinton case

More than seven weeks after FBI Director James Comey’s July 5 announcement closing the case on Hillary Clinton’s personal email use, Republican calls are growing for prosecutors to take a closer look – at everything from perjury questions to the tangled dealings with Clinton Foundation donors during the candidate’s tenure leading the State Department.
And on Thursday, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy pointed out another potential problem with the bureau’s original email investigation.
After viewing the FBI’s tightly held file on the case, the South Carolina congressman told Fox News it doesn’t appear investigators asked Clinton about the issue that was the basis for not pursuing charges – known as “intent.”
During Comey’s congressional testimony last month, he said while Clinton was “negligent” and “careless” in her use of personal email for official business, “What we can’t establish is that she acted with the necessary criminal intent.”
But Gowdy said that in reviewing the FBI’s interview file, “I didn’t see any questions on the issue of intent.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has steadily racked up endorsements from fellow Republicans for his call earlier this week to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the ties between the family foundation and her State Department.

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Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., a Trump supporter, was the latest to back that call late Wednesday, saying in a statement “we need an independent prosecutor to investigate the corrupt Clinton Foundation.”
The newest calls follow an Associated Press report Tuesday that more than half of the non-government people with whom Clinton met as secretary of state donated to her family foundation.
The Clinton campaign said the AP relied on “utterly flawed data” and “cherry-picked a limited subset of Secretary Clinton's schedule to give a distorted portrayal of how often she crossed paths with individuals connected to charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation.” 
Asked Wednesday about the calls for a special prosecutor, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest suggested there was little need.
“President Obama and the administration have complete confidence in the independent career prosecutors at the Department of Justice and the FBI who devoted significant time and attention to investigating Secretary Clinton's email practices,” he said. “… I just think it's hard for anybody to make a very persuasive case that somehow there hasn’t been enough investigating, particularly when you layer on top of that all of the congressional hearings and testimony that's gone on with regard to Secretary Clinton's tenure at the State Department.”
The calls for a special prosecutor come after House Republicans already were looking to the FBI to examine whether Clinton committed perjury during her 2015 congressional testimony on her email practices.
In a letter obtained by Fox News, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., asked U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips to look at “four pieces of sworn testimony” they claimed were “incompatible with the FBI's findings.”
Among those discrepancies, they said Clinton testified there was “nothing marked classified” on her emails, yet Comey said a “very small number” of emails had markings indicating classified information.
The Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs, Peter Kadzik, confirmed in an Aug. 2 letter to both committees they had the perjury investigation request and the department would "take appropriate action as necessary."

Assange vows Clinton email release, as storm clouds gather for candidate

Assange

With 75 days before voters pick their new president, email revelations are threatening to overtake Hillary Clinton’s campaign – with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hurling another log on an already raging fire with a vow to release “significant” Clinton documents.
In an exclusive interview Wednesday night with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Assange was asked whether new information culled from Clinton emails would be released before the general election: "Yes, absolutely.” 
Asked whether it could be an election game-changer, Assange told Kelly, “It depends on how it catches fire."
Dana Perino, former White House press secretary under the George W. Bush administration and co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” predicted Assange would release the files before the third presidential debate, since “it is the one everyone pays attention to.”

Tim Kaine Cartoons, Alias Hillary's silent running mate :-)

After Clinton bounce, polls indicate tightening race in key battlegrounds

Hillary Clinton's lead declines among likely voters

Hillary Clinton’s post-convention bounce may be coming back down to earth – at least in some parts of the country – as new polls show a tightening race against Donald Trump in several battleground states, especially when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is factored in.
A Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday showed Clinton holding onto just a 2-point lead in North Carolina.
She leads Trump 44-42 percent in the state, while Johnson is pulling 7 percent. The poll also shows Trump with a double-digit lead among independents.
North Carolina is one of several battleground states considered critical to Trump’s hopes of capturing the presidency in November. He still trails in most swing state polls, but the latest from Monmouth University marks an improvement over a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist survey showing him down by 9 points in the state.
“North Carolina has given us tight presidential races over the last two cycles and this year appears to be no different,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, another poll released Wednesday, by Florida Atlantic University, showed Trump leading by 2 points in Florida, 43-41 percent. Just last week, Monmouth University showed Trump down by 9 points in the state.

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And a separate Monmouth University Poll released Monday showed Clinton holding a 4-point lead over Trump in Ohio. The survey likewise showed Johnson, who is expected to appear on the state’s ballot, pulling a sizable amount of support, with 10 percent.
Trump still has a long way to go in the polls, considering Clinton has a far more substantial lead in swing states like Pennsylvania and Virginia.
But the slight movement in his favor comes as the Republican presidential nominee has been barnstorming the country at rallies, town halls and fundraisers – yet Clinton has mostly stuck exclusively to private fundraisings events over the past week.
She was making a swing Wednesday through Silicon Valley to raise cash, while Trump was holding rallies in Florida and Mississippi.
Trump has been hammering Clinton at these stops over a string of reports about the overlap between the Clinton Foundation and State Department under her tenure. Most recently, the Associated Press reported Tuesday that more than half of the people outside government who met with Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money to the foundation.
"It is impossible to figure out where the Clinton Foundation ends and where the State Department begins," Trump told supporters in Austin on Tuesday night.
The Clinton campaign countered that the AP report “relies on utterly flawed data” and “cherry-picked a limited subset of Secretary Clinton's schedule to give a distorted portrayal of how often she crossed paths with individuals connected to charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation.”
The latest Monmouth University Poll in North Carolina was conducted Aug. 20-23. The poll of 401 likely voters in the state had a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Surrogate Silence: Dem officials mum as Clinton battles foundation allegations

As critical reports pile up about the access Clinton Foundation donors enjoyed with Hillary Clinton’s State Department – and Donald Trump and his allies hammer her over the allegations – few elected Democrats have rallied to the party nominee’s defense.
The fact that many of her usual allies are locked in tight House and Senate races may be contributing to the surrogate silence, as they focus on their own races. But, as the Trump campaign was quick to point out Wednesday, the Democratic nominee has even faced criticism from her own side.
Most recently, former Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell said in a Philadelphia radio interview that the so-called firewall between department and foundation officials was “ineffective” and the reported dealings create a “bad perception.” Comments like this, combined with a number of tough newspaper editorials, have left Clinton and her core team effectively on their own to combat a near-constant barrage of Trump condemnation.
On Wednesday, Trump called once again for a special prosecutor to investigate foundation donors getting special access to Clinton while she was secretary of state.
“She provided favors and access in exchange for cash,” Trump said at rally in Tampa. “She had a pay-to-play scheme. That’s why Congress or a special prosecutor should look into this.”
Trump’s comments came after the Associated Press reported Tuesday that more than half of the non-government people who met with Clinton while she ran the State Department donated to the foundation, either personally or through companies or groups, based on a review of agency calendars released to the wire service.

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While few elected Democrats have been going to bat for Clinton over the past few days, Trump has enjoyed at least some back-up from elected Republicans -- who have been notoriously uneasy about locking arms with the billionaire businessman.
The campaign released a statement Wednesday from Rep. Dan Donovan, R-N.Y., backing his call for a special prosecutor.
And Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a recent letter to investigate why the Justice Department declined to investigate the Clinton Foundation after recently released emails suggested donors sough preferential treatment while or after Clinton was secretary of state.
“This kind of conduct … reflects the worst concerns harbored by the public about the abuse of government office to benefit the powerful at the expense of the American people,” Cornyn wrote.
Republican strategist Rob Burgess said Wednesday that Clinton’s ethical issues have become a “liability” for some Democrats, though questioned whether they’d be able to avoid it.
"Try as they might, national Democrats will be unable to successfully distance themselves from the train wreck that is Hillary Clinton,” he said. “It seems that many Americans are referring to the old adage, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.'”
Even Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton ally who has boasted about vacationing with the family, appeared to duck a foundation question Tuesday when asked about the issue on MSNBC.
He instead responded by questioning Trump’s trustworthiness.
“I would say first and foremost, Donald Trump has zero credibility talking about any of these issues until this man releases his taxes,” McAuliffe. “So the idea that he's calling for a special prosecutor is crazy. We need to know what is in Donald Trump's taxes.”
New Hampshire Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who is trying to upset first-term Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, also dodged multiple questions last week on CNN about whether she thought Clinton was honest and trustworthy. The campaign later clarified she indeed thinks Clinton is honest and trustworthy.
Late Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton stepped forward to defend his family's foundation, saying that it was "trying to do good things.
"If there's something wrong with creating jobs and saving lives, I don't know what it is," Clinton added. "The people who gave the money knew exactly what they were doing. I have nothing to say about it except that I'm really proud. I'm proud of what they've done."
Bill Clinton also said changes at the foundation are needed if Hillary Clinton becomes president that weren't necessary when she led the State Department. The foundation won't accept foreign donations, and he will stop personally raising money for the foundation, he said.
"We'll have to do more than when she was secretary of state, because if you make a mistake there's always appeal to the White House if you're secretary of state," Clinton said. "If you're president, you can't."
"You have to [make those changes] in a way that no one loses their job, no one loses their income and no one loses their life," he said. "That's all I'm concerned about. We'll do it as fast as we can."
Clinton campaign spokesman Brain Fallon on Tuesday said the AP report relied on "utterly flawed data" and said the AP "cherry-picked a limited subset” of Clinton's schedule.
Clinton ally and veteran strategist James Carville told “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday that nobody in the Clinton family has ever “taken a penny from the foundation and in fact have given it millions of dollars.”
“I think it is a terrific organization,” he said.
Clinton herself has been off the trail for almost a week to fundraise. Her running mate Tim Kaine has been the face of the campaign in public and has defended the nominee.
On Tuesday, the Virginia senator told an ABC affiliate while campaigning in Las Vegas that the foundation taking foreign donations while Clinton was secretary of state was appropriate because of the charitable work it does.