A viral tweet has claimed that U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi purchased 10 million shares in a cannabis company shortly before U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order to pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. The tweet cites Reuters, although no such report was published, and a spokesperson for Pelosi said that no such transaction was made.
The tweet, dated Oct. 6 and which gathered more than 4,000 likes, reads as follows: “BREAKING: NANCY PELOSI PURCHASED 10,000,000 SHARES OF $WEED 4 DAYS AGO: REUTERS.” A second post on the thread says: “$WEED IS CURRENTLY UP 23% AFTER BIDEN HINTS AT FEDERAL LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA” (here).
Other examples of the claim can be seen (here) and (here).
Reuters has not published an article on Nancy Pelosi and cannabis investments (here).
Pelosi's latest publicly available financial disclosure report was filed on Sept. 9, nearly a month before Biden’s announcement (here).
The disclosure appears to show an investment made in a commercial real estate company (here).
Earlier disclosure reports filed by Pelosi can be found (here). The documents reveal stock trades made by Pelosi in companies including Apple, Visa and Microsoft.
Business Insider published an article on Sept. 29, detailing all of Pelosi’s husband's stock trades since 2021 based on financial disclosure documents. None of the listed transactions pertains to a cannabis-producing company (here).
Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Pelosi, also told Reuters via email that “no such transaction was made”.
Reuters was not able to independently verify any new stock purchases by Pelosi since the Sept. 9 disclosure.
A fresh financial disclosure is due within 30 days of a member receiving notice of transaction and needs to be filed within 45 days after any transaction that exceeds $1,000. (here).
On Oct. 6, Joe Biden took executive action to change U.S. policy on marijuana, pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession (here).
The president said his administration is also reconsidering the classification of cannabis, which has been in the most dangerous category of drugs (here).
VERDICT
False. Reuters did not publish a report on Pelosi and cannabis investments. Reuters found no evidence of any such transaction in the latest public financial disclosures and a spokesperson for Pelosi said that no such transaction was made.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.