Reuters reported that Nancy Pelosi bought 10 million shares of cannabis stock.
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Pelosi didn’t buy millions of shares of cannabis stock before Biden’s marijuana reform announcement
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- Reuters didn’t report this.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t buy cannabis stock, according to her spokesperson and financial disclosure reports.
On Oct. 6, President Joe Biden said he would pardon all people convicted of simple marijuana possession offenses under federal law and directed Cabinet members to review how the drug is classified.
Later that day, a claim started to spread on social media that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had bought millions of shares of cannabis stock before Biden’s announcement.
"Breaking," reads one Oct. 7 Instagram post. "Nancy Pelosi purchased 10,000,000 shares of $WEED 4 days ago."
The claim was attributed to Reuters, a news service headquartered in London.
"Imagine that… #crooks," the post added. It was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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Reuters said in an Oct. 13 story about the claim that it did not report this. We found no evidence to contradict this.
Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Pelosi, told PolitiFact the claim is false.
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Pelosi’s most recent publicly available financial disclosure report, signed by the speaker Oct. 14, reflects no such transaction. Nor did the previous report, signed Sept. 9, or any others filed this year.
Stock purchases by politicians and their potential for conflicts of interest have drawn increased scrutiny in recent years. And in December, Pelosi drew some criticism for rebuffing the idea of banning congressional lawmakers and their spouses from owning individual shares.
But claims that she bought shares of cannabis stock this year — and that Reuters reported on it — are False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Oct. 7, 2022
The White House, Statement from President Biden on Marijuana Reform, Oct. 6, 2022
Reuters, Fact Check-Reuters did not report that Nancy Pelosi bought 10 million shares in a cannabis company days before Biden’s overhaul on marijuana policy, Oct. 13, 2022
CNBC, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes banning Congress members from owning individual stocks: ‘We’re a free market economy,’ Dec. 15, 2021
Email interview with Drew Hammill, Nancy Pelosi spokesperson, Nov. 3, 2022
Nancy Pelosi financial disclosure reports for 2022, visited Nov. 3, 2022
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Pelosi didn’t buy millions of shares of cannabis stock before Biden’s marijuana reform announcement
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