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Does President Trump Have an Interest in the Company That Makes Hydroxychloroquine?
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Does President Trump Have an Interest in the Company That Makes Hydroxychloroquine?

Yes, but the most recent information shows it’s not significant.

Alec Dent
Apr 8, 2020
23
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Does President Trump Have an Interest in the Company That Makes Hydroxychloroquine?
factcheck.thedispatch.com

The New York Times reported Monday that President Trump has “a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine,” a drug that the president has been advocating the use of to combat coronavirus. To be exact, according to Trump’s financial disclosure for 2018 “his three family trusts each had investments in a Dodge & Cox mutual fund, whose largest holding was in Sanofi.”

Confusion over how best to interpret the numbers quickly flooded Twitter, with some overplaying the significance of Trump’s investments:

Twitter avatar for @ScottMStedmanScott Stedman @ScottMStedman
🚨Trump has investments in Sanofi, one of the main Hydroxychloroquine makers
nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/…Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical CommunityWhile Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged caution in using hydroxychloroquine, some doctors are prescribing it to patients who have the virus despite the fact it has never been tested for it.nytimes.com

April 7th 2020

2,762 Retweets4,305 Likes
Twitter avatar for @girlsreallyruleAmee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule
According to @nytimes, Trump has a financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker of Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. Trump stands to personally benefit from COVID-19, which might explain his hard sell. #coronavirus
Trump Continues to Profit from COVID-19(Trump holds a new COVID-19 test kit developed by Abbott Labs during the daily coronavirus briefing at the Rose Garden of the White House on March 30, 2020 in Washington, DC.) On Monday, The New York Times reported that Donald Trump is personally invested in the medication he has been selling to the…shero.substack.com

April 7th 2020

1,020 Retweets1,402 Likes
Twitter avatar for @TimKarrTimKarr @TimKarr
The @nytimes buries the lede in the 23rd paragraph: The president’s three family trusts all have investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding is Sanofi, which manufacturers the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine.
Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical CommunityWhile Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged caution in using hydroxychloroquine, some doctors are prescribing it to patients who have the virus despite the fact it has never been tested for it.nytimes.com

April 7th 2020

3,421 Retweets4,318 Likes
Twitter avatar for @JesseLehrichJesse Lehrich @JesseLehrich
REUTERS, THURSDAY: "Sanofi will be able to provide millions of doses of hydroxychloroquine"
reuters.com/article/us-hea… NYT, NOW: Trump has a "personal financial interest in Sanofi" Trump’s Aggressive Advocacy of Malaria Drug for Treating Coronavirus Divides Medical CommunityWhile Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged caution in using hydroxychloroquine, some doctors are prescribing it to patients who have the virus despite the fact it has never been tested for it.nytimes.com

April 7th 2020

1,594 Retweets2,092 Likes
Twitter avatar for @ChrChristensenChristian Christensen @ChrChristensen
1. Trump is relentlessly pushing hydroxychloroquine for #COVID19. 2. Sanofi manufactures the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. 3. Just guess what comes next... (NYT:
nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/…)
Image

April 7th 2020

308 Retweets423 Likes

Others incorrectly suggested that Trump’s investment in Sanofi could be as low as $99:

Twitter avatar for @DonaldJTrumpJrDonald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr
Strange that the New York Times would fail to mention this publicly disclosed information🙄 Instead they try to make it seem like he was self dealing because he was hopeful! Trump’s personal stake in the malaria-drug maker Sanofi could be as small as $99
marketwatch.com/story/trumps-p…Trump’s personal stake in the malaria-drug maker Sanofi could be as small as $99The New York Times, in a major article, says Trump has a “small personal stake” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that produces the drug. Here’s how small.marketwatch.com

April 7th 2020

2,211 Retweets5,670 Likes

President Trump’s most recent Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report reveals that, as of the end of 2018, Trump had invested in two different Dodge & Cox funds: the Dodge & Cox International Stock Fund and the Dodge & Cox Income Fund. The Income Fund is comprised of a portfolio of mainly “high-quality bonds and other debt securities,” whereas the International Stock Fund “invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of equity securities issued by non-U.S. companies from at least three different countries.” It is the International Fund that has a stake in Sanofi, and Trump’s disclosure states that his three family trusts each have investments valued between $1,001 and $15,000 in the International Fund. Dodge & Cox’s website states that a minimum initial investment of $2,500 is required, putting Trump’s total investment in the fund somewhere between $7,500 and $45,000.

Despite being the fund’s largest holding, Sanofi shares represented only 3.3 percent of the International Fund’s investments at the end of 2019. If the president’s level of investment hasn’t changed, he has at most $1,485 invested in Sanofi and possibly as little as $247.50. 

MarketWatch pointed out that the Trump trusts contain other funds that have a stake in Sanofi. His three family trusts also contain investments in iShares MSCI EAFE Index, each falling in the $15,001 to $50,000 range, and iShares Core MSCI EAF ETF, which has an investment in the $1,001 to $15,000 range in Family Trust 1 and investments in the $15,001 to $50,000 range in Family Trusts 2 and 3.

Based on the information from Trump’s 2018 fiscal year disclosure, his total investment in iShares MSCI EAFE Index ranged between $45,003 and $150,000. Given that, as of April 6, .91 percent of the fund’s holdings are in Sanofi, Trump’s financial interest in Sanofi through this fund is at least $409.53 and possibly as high as $1,365.

Less than 1 percent—.78 percent to be exact—of iShares Core MSCI EAF ETF’s holdings were in Sanofi as of April 6, meaning that of the $31,003 to $115,000 Trump has in the fund, between $241.82 and $897 are invested in Sanofi.

Totaling all of these figures, Trump’s financial interest in Sanofi is at most $3,747 and could be as low as $898.85. It’s important to note that this is based on the most recent information on Trump’s investments available, meaning it is not necessarily an accurate reflection of what Trump’s investments currently look like. Provided Trump’s investments have not changed much since the end of 2018, and assuming that those disclosures are accurate, Trump’s investment in the French company does not represent a significant portion of his net worth.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com

Photograph by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images.

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Does President Trump Have an Interest in the Company That Makes Hydroxychloroquine?
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Rev Snow
Apr 8, 2020Liked by Declan Garvey

Now that's how a fact check is done!

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Kevin Townsley
Apr 8, 2020Liked by Declan Garvey

Great reporting keeping everyone honest. Keep up the good work.

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