Jared Kushner has added another layer of confusion to the COVID19 response, taking credit for changes already in progress & failing to deliver on promised improvements. nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/…
He promoted a nationwide screening website & widespread network of drive-through testing sites. Neither materialized. He claims he helped narrow the rift b/t Trump & GM in a presidential blowup over ventilator production, but the WH is still struggling to procure the devices.
In recent days, FEMA, which traditionally coordinates the gov’ts responses to disasters, has received surprise directives from the WH, including to dispatch deliveries of medi equipment to states that hadn’t even submitted formal requests based on which Gov got Trump on the phone
After the Govs of IL & NJ called Trump last month, Kushner’s team told FEMA to immediately deliver medi equipment to both states even though the career officials were concerned that would redirect valuable medical necessities away from where they were most needed, such as WA.
Agency officials had to call the states’ emergency managers to ask them to submit formal requests for supplies the White House had already promised. FEMA officials have grown increasingly frustrated with Mr. Kushner’s hands-on approach.
“There is...comms failure b/t FEMA & the WH,” said Rep Bennie Thompson, Chm of the Homeland Security Cmte. “FEMA was...to provide lgx support & the WH should let them do their work. There is no reason for Jared or any other inexperienced person to be getting in the way of that.”
Mr. Kushner has embedded dozens of political appointees and recruits from the private sector in critical spots like FEMA. His “impact team,” as he calls it, has been nicknamed the Slim Suit Crowd for its sartorial preferences by khaki-wearing FEMA veterans. #slimsuitcrowd
A sr official says the Kushner team is a “frat party” that came from a UFO & invaded the fed gov’t. They demonstrate a lax attitude to policy discussions, even using FreeConferenceCall.com for high-level meetings. Others used personal email accounts in delicate policy exchanges.
Kushner shares Trump’s view that governors are driving their residents into a panic by airing worst-case projections of medi needs. Kushner has stressed what he considers his own abilities, saying that he has figured out how to make the government effective. 🤦♂️
