Jared Kushner Says 170,000 U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Is A Success Story

TOPLINE

Echoing President Trump’s frequent claim that his response to the coronavirus pandemic has been largely effective, White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner said Monday that the U.S. death toll from the virus has been a success story and that Trump administration officials have “done our best.”

KEY FACTS

Big Number

100,000. That’s the low end of American coronavirus deaths the White House coronavirus task force projected in March. The 170,000 figure falls well within the middle range of that model, presented by task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and infectious disease chief Dr. Anthony Fauci, which projected between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths.

Chief Critic

Elizabeth Spiers, the editor-in-chief of the New York Observer when Kushner owned the paper, responded to Kushner’s latest comments by pointing to a Washington Post op-ed she penned in May entitled, “I worked for Jared Kushner. Of course he says his covid-19 failure is a success.” Spiers argued that Kushner’s “modus operandi” is touting failure as success but noted that, this time around, he is “echoing the equally preposterous rhetoric of his father-in-law.”

Tangent

Kushner also played defense for the president in the interview by parrying allegations made by former Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor that Trump frequently acted above the law and sought to withhold wildfire aid from Californians because they were Democrats. “Miles was a nice kid, he worked here for a couple years. But it makes a lot of sense to me he’s endorsing Joe Biden,” Kushner said, arguing that, during Miles’ tenure at DHS, “no wall was built and the border was wide open.” Kushner added, “Clearly he wasn’t up to the task.”

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