'Brutal Day For The NYT': Paper Fact Checked Over Claim About Why Trump Is Pushing HCQ

Leah Barkoukis | April 08, 2020 7:55 AM

The New York Times sank to a new low, even for them, publishing a story questioning whether President Trump was promoting hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment because it benefited him financially.

The paper highlighted the president’s incredibly small financial stake in the maker of chloroquine.

If hydroxychloroquine becomes an accepted treatment, several pharmaceutical companies stand to profit, including shareholders and senior executives with connections to the president. Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. (NYT)

As he said on Tuesday, President Trump is a cheerleader for America. He wants this country to thrive. He wants its citizens to prosper. And he wants this virus to affect as few Americans as possible, which is why he has pushed HCQ so heavily—because thousands of doctors in the U.S. and around the world attest to the fact that it works. We don’t have time to waste in clinical trials right now. The suggestion that he’s pushing it for financial benefit is patently absurd. Fact checkers agreed.

What's True
U.S. President Donald Trump earns some income from three family trusts that are administered independently by J.P. Morgan, an investment bank and wealth-management firm. These trusts are in part invested in mutual funds that themselves are partially invested in companies that produce hydroxychloroquine.
What's False
Trump’s financial stake in these companies is virtually negligible — contained indirectly via mutual funds — and administered through three family trusts he does not control. As a generic drug, hydroxychloroquine is unlikely to provide any one company with significant profits compared to other proprietary drugs. (Snopes)