White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is defending the White House’s coronavirus response effort, deeming it a “great success story.”
Kushner appeared on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday where he was asked about the national strategy to address the coronavirus outbreak and about the administration collapsing the pandemic office.
Despite the noted hurdles and mounting criticism the task force is facing amid the pandemic, Kushner insists the administration has risen to the challenge.
“We’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this and I think that we’ve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So, the federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story,” Kushner said. “And I think that’s what needs to be told.”
See Kushner’s remarks below:
Jared Kushner, as the US coronavirus death toll surpasses the Vietnam War and approaches 60,000: “This is a great success story, and I think that’s really what needs to be told.” pic.twitter.com/ax6ok3cYCV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 29, 2020
See his full remarks below (starting at 23:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW4qdJJMB5k
Shortly after the interview, Kushner’s remarks were met with concern and opposition, namely because he declared the administration’s coronavirus response as a “success story.”
Retweeting the video, Twitter users quickly noted that the United States has now surpassed 1 million positive coronavirus cases while the death told nears 60,000.
Others noted that the death toll has now surpassed the number of fatalities caused by the Vietnam War — 58,220 lives were lost during the Vietnam War between 1955 and 1975.
With 26 million Americans unemployed, 1 million infected with coronavirus and nearly 60,000 dead in five weeks, Jared Kushner has the nerve to call this “a great success story.”pic.twitter.com/rBFQZID3SS
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 29, 2020
Jared Kushner, the morning after we hit 1 million cases and more deaths than in the Vietnam War:
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) April 29, 2020
“We’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this. The federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story.”pic.twitter.com/sRGDR4rNsl
https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1255538348493545473
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have insisted there is adequate testing capacity, while governors have argued otherwise.
On Monday, the Trump administration boasted about completing more than 5 million coronavirus tests.
However, health experts have noted that approximately three to four million tests should be completed per day, as reported on IJR.
As of Wednesday, there are more than 1,048,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., and the U.S. death toll has passed 60,000.
