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Trump admin funds plasma company based in owner's condo
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Trump administration gave a well-connected Republican donor seed money to test a possible COVID-19-fighting blood plasma technology, it noted the company’s “manufacturing facilities” in Charleston, South Carolina. Plasma Technologies LLC is indeed based in the stately waterfront city. But there are no manufacturing facilities. Instead, the company exists within the luxury condo of its majority owner, Eugene Zurlo.
Zurlo’s company may be in line for as much as $65 million in taxpayer dollars; enough to start building an actual production plant, according to internal government records and other documents obtained by The Associated Press.
...It’s also another in a series of contracts awarded to people with close political ties to key officials despite concerns voiced by government scientists. Among the others: an ill-conceived $21 million study of Pepcid as a COVID therapy and more than a half billion dollars to ApiJect Systems America, a startup with an unapproved medicine injection technology and no factory to manufacture the devices.
In addition, a government whistleblower claimed that a $1.6 billion vaccine contract to Novavax Inc. was made over objections of scientific staff.
At the center of these deals is Dr. Robert Kadlec, a senior Trump appointee at the Department of the Health and Human Services who backed the Pepcid, Novavax and ApiJect projects. Records obtained by the AP also describe Kadlec as a key supporter of Zurlo’s company.
...
Top government officials began to take notice of Plasma Technologies after Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania and two-time presidential candidate, became part-owner, according to the records and AP interviews.After Congress supplied hundreds of billions of dollars to combat the pandemic, Santorum stepped up his sales pitch for the company’s method of turning human plasma into a therapeutic product — a process the company has described as a game changer. In mid-August, the federal government awarded Plasma Technologies a $750,000 grant to demonstrate that it could deliver on its promises.
Santorum, who’s held no elective office since 2007, remains influential among social conservatives, a key part of President Donald Trump’s political base.
...
Zurlo has deep ties to the Republican Party. He has contributed thousands of dollars to Santorum’s campaigns and to other GOP campaigns and political action committees. He entertained Santorum and his family at the mansion Zurlo used to own on Kiawah Island, an exclusive golf resort in South Carolina.
...
Zurlo brought Santorum aboard after the agreement with Abeona fell through. “We’ve got an FDA problem. Can you help me?” Santorum recalled Zurlo telling him.
Righto, drain the swap by pissing billions into it.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2020, @01:38PM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&t=9&v=nPs_79-hEg8 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday November 02 2020, @03:58PM (7 children)
Giving all 5G spectrum to a buddy of yours in a no-bid contract is pretty damn swampy too.
Trump is pushing a massive no-bid contract of 5G spectrum to a Republican-connected company [lenexweb.com]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday November 02 2020, @06:09PM (6 children)
So is reelecting the same swamp creatures for 40+ years...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Troll) by DannyB on Monday November 02 2020, @07:14PM (5 children)
Funny thing is that for as long as I can remember we keep flipping parties in control every 4 to 8 years. For last 40+ years.
Yet nothing changes.
Could it be that both parties are two sides of a single larger swamp?
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2020, @07:37PM (2 children)
Plenty has changed, but Republicans have never played for or with even a shred of intrgrity so it has been hard to get much needed changes through.
Many Dems are also corrupt corporate whores as well. There is undoubtedly some collusion between the parties, but they are not the same. Biden is pretty upfront about returning to the status quo with maybe some police reforms and infrastructure investment. Perhaps now that the GOP mask has been torn off the conservative base can begin returning to reality.
Anyway, both parties not the same, just Republicans playing dirty and blocking dems from getting much done. Gotta get that money out of politics, no political ads except on a publicly funded website where all candidates can post their platforms and advertisements.
Back to the point, yes Trump is the swampiest of creatures
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2020, @10:07PM (1 child)
That status quo featured:
* Using the nation's intelligence gathering apparatus to spy on Trump, making Nixon look like a saint
* Threatening to cut foreign aid unless an investigation into corruption was stopped
* Purposely allowing guns to cross the border
* Starting wars
* Denying due process to college students accused of sexual misbehavior
* Drug companies allowed to charge Americans more than foreigners
* Companies replacing American workers with H1B visa workers
* Outsourcing to evade American regulations and unions
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2020, @03:33AM
Hey nutter, pay more attention to reality and stop letting discarded penis skins like Carlson and Hannity tell you what to think.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday November 02 2020, @08:02PM
:-) I'll take that as a rhetorical question. We can call them a "coalition"
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Monday November 02 2020, @10:23PM
It's because the two big parties are each comprised of factions pulling in multiple conflicting directions, who are egged on by hardline voters who get angry if they "play nice" with the perceived enemy. Even if we broke them up into multiple smaller parties, we'd most likely get the same stasis as a result.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 02 2020, @06:21PM (1 child)
You want to avoid most any medicine, if it has Santorum [knowyourmeme.com] all over it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2020, @04:14AM
You want to avoid most any medicine.
ftfy.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Monday November 02 2020, @09:11PM (1 child)
Our Alt-Wrong/Tory/ERG/Brexiter regime is doing exactly the same here in the UK. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been paid to private contractors for things like the "NHS" track and trace system for COVID-19, COVID testing,and various contracts to do with Brexit. Several high-profile serial failures are being rewarded for loyalty to the regime.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 02 2020, @10:16PM
That explains why the fucker wants more people in the hospitals [reuters.com].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0