Earlier today, BuzzFeed reporter McKay Coppins targeted an obscure $6,000 Mitt Romney investment in a medical device company, Abbott Laboratories. The story highlighted the fact that Abbott Laboratories does business in Iran with the permission of the US government:
But until last May, Mitt Romney owned at least $6,000 of stock in a medical company, Abbott Laboratories, that does business in Iran, according to the candidate's financial disclosures.
The stock's value is small in comparison to Romney's expansive portfolio, but Abbott held the distinction of being the only stock that he listed separately from his various trusts on his 2010 tax returns. A campaign spokesperson did not respond to BuzzFeed's request for comment.
The article mentions the recent controversy surrounding current White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe’s 2009 speaking fees of $100,000 from MTN Nigeria, a company that conducts significant business with Iran, Syria, and Liberia.
However, BuzzFeed initially failed to mention that Plouffe also reported a stake of at least $2,501 in the very same company Coppins rapped Romney for investing in, Abbott Laboratories.
In a late addition to his piece, Coppins tacked on a single-sentence update at the bottom of its story to note the Plouffe investment and the fact that former Obama White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley served on Abbott Laboratories’ Board of Directors from 2004 to 2011. In his 2012 personal financial disclosure, Daley reported 12,760 stock equivalent shares from the Abbott Laboratories Board Trust.
BuzzFeed earlier today came under scrutiny for an error- and typo-filled post questioning the influence of Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul on the candidate’s position on global warming.
At the time of this post the lead headline on the BuzzFeed homepage is "Huge Line For Free Vibrators In NYC Broken Up By Cops." We can only assume additional updates will follow as news breaks.