CNN anchor Anderson Cooper engaged in a hostile interview with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, pressing the Trump supporter over his promotion of an unproven drug as a cure for COVID-19.
Lindell, who touted the drug oleandrin in an Oval Office meeting with President Trump in July, appeared on the news network Tuesday afternoon to discuss it. In the combative conversation that ensued, Cooper frequently pointed out that the drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and that Lindell does not have a medical background and therefore should not push the medication, which is highly toxic in its raw plant form.
Lindell claimed that he informed his “friend,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, about the drug shortly after he was told about it around Easter. Carson, according to the MyPillow CEO, later said oleandrin is “the real deal.” He also referenced an unnamed study that he claimed included a thousand test subjects, but when pressed for more details by Cooper, Lindell came up short.
After debating whether there had been a study conducted on the drug, which Cooper maintained hadn’t happened, Lindell said he has been taking oleandrin for months, as had about a hundred of friends. Lindell called it “the miracle of all time.”
Cooper noted that Lindell was recently added to the board of Phoenix Biotechnology, the company that produces oleandrin, and received a financial stake in the company. He also questioned whether people should trust Lindell given that he was forced to settle a lawsuit for false marketing claims.
