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President Trump says he doesn’t take any responsibility for the 50,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. Also says he won’t bail out the USPS. (April 24)
AP Domestic
WASHINGTON – White House senior adviser Jared Kushner called the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak “a great success story” on Wednesday as cases topped 1 million and the death toll passed 60,000 in the United States.
Kushner, the president’s son-in-law who has been serving on the White House coronavirus task force, doesn’t often make public appearances.
During an interview on Fox News on Wednesday morning, Kushner said, “I think that we’ve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So the government, federal government, rose to the challenge and this is a great success story. I think that’s really what needs to be told.”
He also claimed that by June “a lot of the country should be back to normal,” and that by July, “the country’s really rocking again”
‘They’re playing Russian roulette’: As states reopen amid coronavirus, experts warn of risks
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
Dozens of states have decided to reopen businesses amid the pandemic, and although they’ve also established a number of conditions for restarting, public health experts question their ability to monitor and handle any increase in cases that will follow.
If the surge is strong enough, some may have to reimpose the social distancing restrictions that devastated their economies.
Kushner denounced “the eternal lockdown crowd” for making “jokes on late-night television” about the administration’s efforts, saying that the “reality is that the data is on our side” regarding testing and reopening the country.
Researchers at Harvard University recently concluded the U.S. would need to conduct 500,000 to 700,000 coronavirus tests a day to begin reopening safely. Last week the country averaged 210,000 daily tests, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Study: Americans trust Fauci more than Trump or their own governors
Kushner said the country was “on the other side of the medical aspect of this,” despite cases mounting across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that deaths and cases will “likely to continue to rise” in coming weeks, especially if social distancing isn’t strongly followed.
The Trump administration has been criticized for the shortages in personal protective gear, lack of widespread testing, and its slow response to the pandemic, with reports suggesting President Donald Trump was warned about the threat of the virus from the intelligence community as early as January.
More: U.S. economy shrank 4.8% in the 1st quarter amid state shutdowns, millions of layoffs
Trump called Kushner “brilliant” on Wednesday following his comments.
However, some on Twitter seemed to disagree.
GDP had its biggest drop since Great Recession
We surpassed 1M positive COVID-19 cases
We don’t have adequate testing
But a Trump official calls their response “a great success story”
And Sen. McConnell only seems interested in unqualified, right-wing judges & protecting CEOs
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 29, 2020
In wake of 60,000 deaths already, Jared Kushner calls government’s Coronavirus response “a great success story.” By what possible measure?
— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) April 29, 2020
Jared Kushner called 1m infections, 60k dead, a shuttered economy, 25m+ unemployed, and 3-6% drop in GDP for now with much larger likely to come “a great success story.”
If our leaders refuse to see where we’re failing, they can’t help us get better.
— Ian Bassin (@ianbassin) April 29, 2020
Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz, Paul Davidson
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