Jared Kushner, son-in-law to President Trump, has added another job to his already jam-packed White House responsibilities – coronavirus wrangler, according to a report.
While Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and health-care experts have become the face of the crisis during nearly daily White House briefings, Kushner has carved out a position behind the scenes as the administration responds to the crisis that is quickly expanding across the country, Politico reported.
Kushner, who is married to first daughter Ivanka Trump, has seen his duties expand from working with private companies to fix early testing shortfalls just two-and-a-half weeks ago, to building up production of medical supplies and figuring out the logistics of getting them to where they’re most needed, the report said.
He and a kitchen cabinet of outside experts have also taken control at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to keep the pressure up on the various health agencies responding to the outbreak.
Some have described Kushner’s operation as an “all-of-private-sector” approach in contrast to Pence’s “all-of-government” task force.
Kushner, who is running point on creating a Middle East peace plan, reorganizing the federal government and reforming the criminal justice system, among other jobs, has the ear of his father-in-law and his team is focused on making quick decisions that have raised concerns among some officials.
“You can’t have enough good smart people working on a problem of this scale,” Andy Slavitt, who worked with the Obama administration and is advising Kushner, told Politico. “But they have to be organized with a clear chain of command.”
But some said Kushner and company are more concerned with results than abiding by normal government boundaries.
“It’s a little crazy,” said one of the outside advisers. “It’s all hands on deck — it’s literally, who’s got the technology and data? Who can help us?”
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