Thread by @weareoversight

Over six months into the pandemic, shortages of PPE remain.

New documents we obtained show Jared Kushner—the president’s son-in-law who was tasked with managing the supply chain of PPE—forwarded information about the importance of masks to combatting Covid-19.

On May 15, Kushner forwarded the—in his words—“interesting intel” that “masks really work” and are the “silver bullet in Asia.” The forwarded email info specified the benefits of surgical and N95 masks over homemade masks.

americanoversight.org/document/ustr-…

In the forwarded email, Kushner’s “good source” expressed “dismay” that DuPont, the American chemical company, no longer makes the effective melt-blown nonwoven fabric and that the country is “heavily dependent on Sinopec,” a Chinese company.

Dr. Debrah Brix replied later that day saying, “we need that material.”

The emails we obtained through FOIA also show concerns about problems getting testing and PPE materials.

Former Republican Rep. John Sweeney emailed Peter Navarro, who runs White House economic policy, to express concern that new Chinese regulations could stop the supply of Covid-19 tests.

Sweeney asserted “the Chinese government [is] seizing and slowing production, for profit, of goods and materials desperately needed to combat a viral pandemic, of their creation.”

Navarro forwarded the email to Kushner who asked “what is your proposal to handle this?”

Last month, documents we obtained showed USPS had a plan to send 5 masks to every American household, but as the Washington Post reported, the White House scrapped it.

These emails again show that the administration knew masks were important, yet PPE supply issues remain.