CNN’s Anderson Cooper Confronts ‘MyPillow’ CEO Over Drug Claims: ‘How Do You Sleep At Night?’

Mike Lindell, the founder and chief executive officer of MyPillow, sat for a live interview Tuesday with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who pressed Lindell on his claims that a drug—produced by a company that Lindell has a stake in—could be an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus—an “amazing cure that works for everybody,” Lindell claimed without evidence.

“How do you sleep at night,” Cooper asked at one point in the heated exchange, after noting that the makers of the drug, oleandrin, seem to have approached Lindell because of his close relationship with President Trump. “You have no medical background. You’re not a scientist. A guy called you in April, said he had this product and you are now on the board and going to make money from the sale of this product. The reason he reached out to you is you have the ear of the president.”

CNN reports that last week, Lindell was added to the board of Phoenix Biotechnology, the company that makes oleandrin, and received a financial stake in the company. When pressed on his financial interest in the drug being seen as a treatment for Covid-19, Lindell said he didn’t care about the money. “I help people—that’s my passion—and I can scale things,” Lindell said.

“How are you different than a snake oil salesman,” Cooper asked, demanding that Lindell provide proof that the medication had been tested, as he claimed. “Tell me about the tests. Where was it done?”

Lindell said only that “the tests are out there” and accused Cooper and the “media” of trying “to take away this amazing cure.” Lindell added that his reputation was built on “integrity and trust” and that he wouldn’t endorse something that wasn’t safe.

The interview quickly sparked discussion on social media, with both Anderson Cooper and Mike Lindell trending on Twitter: