Robert F Kennedy Jr and Sen Bernie Sanders had an explosive clash over the senator's links to Big Pharma as Trump's health nominee came out swinging in the second day of his confirmation hearing.
The spat started when RFK Jr, who has been tapped to be head of the Health and Human Services (HHS), promised he would 'make America healthier than other countries in the world.'
Sen Sanders questioned how RFK Jr could do so without guaranteeing free healthcare to every American, which appeared to set the nominee off.
Referring to an earlier point in the hearing about corruption in the healthcare system, RFK Jr said: 'By the way Bernie, the problem of corruption is not just in the federal agencies — it's in Congress too.
'Almost all the members of this panel, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests.'
Applause was heard from the gallery before Sen Sanders, his face visibly flushed, responded furiously with denials.
He said: 'I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions - they did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC [political action committee] money from the pharmaceutical [industry executives]. They came from workers.'
However, RFK Jr refuted, and said in his 2020 presidential election bid, Sen Sanders was 'the single largest receiver of pharmaceutical money' and accepted $1.5million.
