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Republican Donor Mysteriously Acquires Millions Of Medical Supplies When Even Hospitals Can’t Get Them — Now He’s Selling Them

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A powerful Republican fundraiser has opened up a business selling medical supplies, including testing kits, N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment that even hospitals are unable to get.

The fundraiser, Mike Gula sent an email on Thursday abruptly announcing that he would get into a new line of business to capitalize on the coronavirus response, Politico reports.

“Over the last 14 days I have built another business outside politics and will be focusing my full attention there,” he wrote in the email, which was obtained by Politico.

Gula didn’t specify his new line of work in the email. But in an interview, he said he’d started a new company selling medical equipment that’s been in short supply during the coronavirus pandemic.

The company, Blue Flame Medical LLC, was formed Monday in Delaware, according to state records. Its website says it sells coronavirus testing kits, N95 respirator masks, “a wide selection” of personal protective equipment and other “hard to find medical supplies to beat the outbreak.”

Asked how he’d managed to procure such equipment when there are shortages in hospitals across the country, Gula said, “I have relationships with a lot of people.”

Gula said he decided to trade in fundraising to sell medical supplies “because nobody was doing it. Because the president and the vice president were asking people to help.”

Gula also has two other firms: Prime Advocacy, which organizes Washington fly-ins for industry groups and others, and AMP, which he started last month to provide services for PACs.

He said he started Blue Flame in part because he wanted to leave behind the pressures of political work.

“I just want to live a private life,” he said. “I want to get out of politics.”

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Investigations

New Report Blows The Lid Open On Trump’s Financial Ties To Maker Of Hydroxychloroquine

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2 months ago

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April 7, 2020

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A new report published by The New York Times has revealed that President Donald Trump owns a stake in a company that produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there’s no evidence it works.

Trump “has a personal financial interest” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The Times reported Monday.

In addition, Sanofi’s largest shareholders include a mutual fund company run by major Republican donor Ken Fisher, the paper said. Trump’s three family trusts, as of last year, each had investments in a mutual fund whose largest holding was Sanofi, according to the Times. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also had ties to the drugmaker, The Times reported.

Trump’s “assertiveness” in promoting the drug contrary to the recommendation of top health experts “has raised questions about his motives,” The Times noted.

A chorus of Trump supporters with no medical expertise have backed the president’s urging of doctors to treat COVID-19 patients with the drug, including his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Fox News host Sean Hannity.

In the face of warnings from top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci that the drug’s safety and effectiveness are uncertain in treating COVID-19, Trump has continued to laud its supposed benefits.

“What do you have to lose?” he asked at a press briefing this week urging those sick with the virus to take the drug.

Turns out plenty.

“There could be deaths,” American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris said. “This is a new virus, and so we should not be promoting any medication or drug for any disease that has not been proven and approved by the FDA.”

Generic drugmakers also are gearing up to produce hydroxychloroquine pills. One of those companies was co-founded by Trump golfing buddy Chirag Patel, according to the Times.

The White House didn’t immediately answer a request for comment.

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