The US Justice Department on Friday accused drug maker Novartis of paying kickbacks to doctors to prescribe the company's drugs over others.
In the second US action against the Swiss firm this week, the Justice Department said Novartis had boosted sales of its expensive brand-name drugs with incentives for prescribing doctors that were ultimately paid for by public health care programs.
[Doctor holding pill bottle with dollar sign via Shutterstock]
Republicans Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick are "preparing for a drawn-out vote-counting process marked by hand-to-hand combat behind the scenes" according to a new report by Politico.
The television doctor's lead has shrunk to 1,083 votes in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, which is one-tenth of a percentage point.
"Despite essentially being tied, the Oz and McCormick teams are both publicly projecting confidence that they will be on top once all the ballots are counted. By state law, an automatic recount will be triggered if the race comes down to half of one percent or less — unless the runner-up backs down and officially declines a recount," Politico explained. "But at this juncture, neither camp is signaling that they’ll throw in the towel. Instead, Pennsylvania Republicans are predicting trench warfare that could drag out for weeks — and be fought in the media, as well as potentially in the courts — in the state’s closely watched primary."
An extended primary could exacerbate GOP delusions of vote fraud and depress Republican turnout in the general election, Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Reporter explained on MSNBC.
"Both Oz and McCormick have enlisted alumni from former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign to gird themselves for a potential recount," Politico explained. "Mike Roman, the director of Trump’s Election Day operations, is helping the McCormick team, according to a source familiar with his efforts. The Oz campaign has brought onboard James Fitzpatrick, who led Pennsylvania’s Election Day operations for Trump. Wally Zimolong, a Pennsylvania-based attorney, is also working for McCormick."
A recount must be completed by June 7.
NBC Philadelphia reported on the next steps in the process:
On Thursday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig broke down the significance of the new allegations from the January 6 Committee against Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA).
Specifically, the committee alleges that Loudermilk led tours in the Capitol that may have helped the January 6 attackers do "reconnaissance" — and that they have evidence that contradicts his denials.
"Let me get your thoughts on this tour of the U.S. Capitol given by a Republican member of Congress right on the eve of the insurrection," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "Why is it so important for the Select Committee to get to the bottom of this?"
"There's a pointed and very high-stakes dispute going on here," said Honig. "Certain House Democrats dating back have accused certain House Republicans of giving these tours on January 5th designed to facilitate the attack. If that's true, that's remarkably serious, potentially even criminal. Republicans have strenuously denied this. We have not seen any evidence in public to support this allegation."
"But the most interesting thing in the letter that the committee sent to Representative Loudermilk today is that committee says they have evidence that, quote, 'directly contradicts those denials,'" continued Honig. "So we will see that evidence if they have the evidence, and if it is as the committee describes, that is an enormously big deal."
The allegations against Loudermilk come after Democrats have long made similar claims against Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who allegedly offered "large" group tours of the Capitol in the runup to the attack.
Watch below or at this link.
Elie Honig says Jan 6 committee allegations against GOP lawmakers are "remarkably serious" youtu.be
Dr. Mehmet Oz was asked about his position on marijuana and appeared to believe making it legal means everyone in the state of Pennsylvania would be given the drug, which would force workers to "stay home."
Oz, endorsed by Donald Trump in the race for a seat in the U.S. Senate for Pennsylvania, is in an extremely tight primary race against Republican Dave McCormick. The "celebrity doctor" is barely ahead currently, as ballots from Tuesday's vote are still being counted. The winner will face Democrat John Fetterman, currently Pennsylvania's Lt. Governor.
"Fetterman has won statewide in Pennsylvania," Newsmax's Greg Kelly told Oz. "He wants to legalize marijuana I believe."
"What is your stance on that by the way?" Kelly asked Oz.
"You know there are not enough Pennsylvanians to work in Pennsylvania," Oz responded, twisting the question into a labor shortage issue.
"So giving them pot so they stay home is not an ideal move," he said, as if making it legal would endanger the economy of the state.
"I also don't want to breed addiction to marijuana," he added. The CDC says one study has shown about a ten percent addiction rate in those who choose to use the drug.
"I don't want young people to think they have to smoke a joint to get out of their house in the morning," Oz added, which contradicts his claim that those who use marijuana will not go to work.
"We need to get Pennsylvanians back at work. You got to give them their mojo. I don't want marijuana to be a hindrance to that," he says, contradicting his earlier claim that there are not enough workers in the state.
Pennsylvania has a relatively low unemployment rate of 4.9%.
Watch:
Mehmet Oz says he disagrees with Fetterman's position that marijuana should be legalized because Pennsylvanians need to get back their "mojo" and get back to work pic.twitter.com/0G7tiMIyYZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2022
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