Does Trump Own Stock in a Company CDC Uses for COVID-19 Tests?







The U.S. president’s finances are complex, but does Donald Trump actually benefit from the CDC’s testing procedures for the new coronavirus?







































							False
['Donald Trump owned stock in Thermo-Fisher Scientific at a time when his presidential administration was advocating for a COVID-19 test that uses Thermo-Fisher equipment.', 'On March 6, 2020, Amee Vanderpool published a story on her “Shero” newsletter raising the possibility U.S. President Donald Trump benefited financially from the test the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed for COVID-19, which is caused by the new coronavirus. She purported he owns stock in Thermo-Fisher Scientific, which produces a machine necessary for the test:', 'According to the Associated Press, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States who is supposed to be managing the Coronavirus epidemic and how the testing is conducted, has listed investments in V.F. Corp (VFC) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation (TMO) … There is reason to believe that Donald Trump stands to profit from medical testing of coronavirus that will now take place in the United States.', 'Though Vanderpool later updated her post to reflect that Trump currently owns no stocks in Thermo-Fisher, the claim of a potential conflict of interest continues to be repeated online.', 'The CDC’s COVID-19 test does indeed require a machine made by a company owned by Thermo-Fisher, Applied Systems. Official CDC testing guidelines specifically require an Applied Biosystems “7500 Fast Dx Real-Time PCR System with SDS 1.4 software.” In other words, both the PCR system and software are produced by Thermo-Fisher.', 'Vanderpool cited a 2016 Associated Press story as evidence that Trump owned shares of Thermo-Fisher. While his ownership of Thermo-Fisher shares was accurate at the time, the president’s financial-disclosure forms indicate he sold those shares sometime in 2017.', 'Financial disclosures from 2016 and 2017 (each of which reflect the preceding financial year) indicated the president owned “$50,001-$100,000” worth of Thermo-Fisher stock in 2015 and 2016. Financial disclosures filed in 2018 and 2019, however, indicate that the president has not owned stock in Thermo-Fisher since the 2017 financial year.', 'Although Trump has refused to release his tax returns and has not necessarily been transparent about all of his finances, the evidence used to support the claim that he could benefit financially from the new COVID-19 test is categorically flawed. As such, we rank the claim as “False.”', 'Vanderpool, Amee. \xa0 “Trump Could Profit From Coronavirus Testing.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Shero. \xa0 6 March 2020.', 'Vanderpool, Amee. \xa0 “UPDATE: Trump Could Profit From Coronavirus Testing.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Shero. \xa0 8 March 2020.', 'Simpson, Andrew. \xa0 “Report Claims Trump Owns Stock In Company That May Play A Major Role In Providing COVID-19 Kits, Helping POTUS To Profit From Testing.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Political Tribune. \xa0 7 March 2020.', 'Simpson, Andrew. \xa0 “Report Claims Trump Owns Stock In Company That May Play A Major Role In Providing COVID-19 Kits, Helping POTUS To Profit From Testing.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Political Tribune. \xa0 7 March 2020.', 'emptywheel.net. \xa0 “Three Things: Endemic COVID-19 Edition.”\n\xa0 \xa0 7 March 2020.', 'Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. \xa0 “CDC 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'ThermoFisher.com. \xa0 “Applied Biosystems™ 7500 Fast Dx Real-Time PCR Instrument, With Tower Computer.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'Horwitz, Jeff and Chad Day. \xa0 “Trump’s Investments Include Companies He Bashed.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Associated Press. \xa0 19 May 2016.', 'U.S. Office of Government Ethics. \xa0 “Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) – 2016.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'U.S. Office of Government Ethics. \xa0 “Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) – 2017.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'U.S. Office of Government Ethics. \xa0 “Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) – 2018.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'U.S. Office of Government Ethics. \xa0 “Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE Form 278e) – 2019.”\n\xa0 \xa0 Accessed 11 March 2020.', 'Rappeport, Alan. \xa0 “Steven Mnuchin Refused to Release Trump’s Tax Documents to Congress.”\n\xa0 \xa0 The New York Times. 6 May 2019.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', 'A complete story is rarely told in a headline.', 'Social media rumors that two memorials in New York were vandalized proved misleading.', 'In August 2019, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man died after an encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado.', 'A chaotic scene in St. Louis sparked outrage, memes, and confusion.', 'Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on sex abuse charges connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.', 'The white supremacist group made frequent use of the slogan more recently embraced by President Donald Trump, though they did not, as some claim, invent it.', "The question of past arrests often surfaces among people who want to rationalize police officers' actions when Black men are killed in custody.", 'You can claim anything if you remove the barrier of evidence.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', '© 1995 - 2020 by Snopes Media Group Inc.', 'This material may not be reproduced without permission.', 'Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com']
Does Trump Own Stock in a Company CDC Uses for COVID-19 Tests?