Pence Chief Of Staff Owns Stocks That Could Conflict With Coronavirus Response

[demmiblue]

Source: NPR

Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies doing work related to the Trump administration's pandemic response — holdings that could run afoul of conflict-of-interest laws.

Many of the medical, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies in which Short and his wife hold stock – including 3M, Abbott Labs, Gilead, Procter & Gamble, Medtronic, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Johnson & Johnson – have been directly affected by or involved in the work of the Coronavirus Task Force, chaired by Pence.

Other companies among his holdings, such as CVS, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart, and Roche, have been publicly touted by the White House for their work with the federal government on Coronavirus response.

Short declared at least some of his stock holdings — more than 100 listings of individual stocks across a range of economic sectors — to be potential conflicts of interest after he joined the Vice President's office last year. But he did not divest those holdings after being denied a tax break often granted to government officials who must sell stock to comply with ethics laws.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/860927054/pence-chief-of-staff-owns-stocks-that-could-conflict-with-coronavirus-response

[Roy Rolling]

1. WTF?

Why is it such a gap, “between $500,000 and $1.5 million”?

And you know, maybe it’s just an oversight. But I don’t care.

They know the rules, they break them with impunity.

This connection between lowly government sycophants and the stock market is getting troublesome. Who else is part of the scheme?

[JT45242]

3. Huge volatility currently

Given that there are many stocks in his portfolio and the stocks individually jumping up to 15% a day that range seems reasonable.

My own 403B took a 35% dive in the first few weeks of Covid and has revocered some of that (very diversified funds).

If he has money in stocks directly affected, they could have bottomed out and rebounded (especially with a nudge from positive statements from the task force). So, the range seems reasonable, but the conflict of interest is the bigger problem. It is just like Trump hawking pills that he has invested in.

[Walleye]

2. Ethics, schmethics

[Botany]

4. Standard Operating Procedure

Trump and Pence were told of the coming pandemic in November of 2019 and instead of
getting America ready and working on containing the virus they invested in H.C.Q. (hydroxy-
chloroquine) and their own C-19 test kits instead of the W.H.O.'s perfectly good test kit
and that allowed the virus to spread like a wildfire.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Shameless and think they can get away with it

Transparency is their enemy, like they didn't have during TeaPot Dome or the 1800s

[Botany]

6. Trump Has 'Financial Interest' in Hydroxychloroquine Manufacturer: NYT

I really hate those bastards.


https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-reportedly-has-financial-interest-in-hydroxychloroquine-manufacturer

President Donald Trump has a “small financial interest” in the maker of an anti-malarial drug that he has been touting as a “game changer” in treating coronavirus, according to The New York Times. Over the past two weeks, Trump and his Fox News allies have aggressively promoted hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure, despite top infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and others urging caution and noting that there was not enough evidence of the drug’s efficacy.

The Times reports the president’s family trusts all have investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding is Sanofi, the manufacturer of Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. Associates of the president, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, have also run funds that hold investments in the pharmaceutical firm.