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This week we learned Jared Kushner is helping to direct the federal supply chain for COVID-19 medical equipment.
What are his qualifications? Marrying well.
What exactly is he doing?
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553
What are his qualifications? Marrying well.
What exactly is he doing?
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553
Instead of leveraging the Defense Production Act so the federal government can work with manufacturers directly to ramp up production of COVID-19 supplies, Jared Kushner called in his former roommate and others in the private sector to sort this out.
The result? "A beautiful day in the Rose Garden" with a handful of corporate executives, all getting good press about Project Airbridge, a public-private effort to get COVID-19 supplies from other countries to here.
It's not clear how companies like McKesson and Medline are helping, other than getting free rides for their supply on federal planes, but it makes for great PR for them. "We helped bring in COVID-19 supplies and shook hands with the president!" https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/29/world/asia/29reuters-health-coronavirus-trump-airlift.html
Kushner's efforts have largely operated outside usual rules and restrictions, and they're relying heavily on personal connections to private industry. Rules regarding conflicts of interest are being disregarded. There's no transparency or oversight. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/01/jared-kushner-coronavirus-response-160553
Kushner has his hands in decision-making at FEMA, the FDA, Medicare, and Medicaid. His brother's health insurance company (which Jared formerly helped run) has been tapped to create a website directing people to testing locations.
It's unclear who is making money off all of this (speculation: a whole lot of Trump's friends and donors), how much money they're making, or how effective any of this has been, because there's no transparency.
What we do know is hospitals still don't have PPE.
What we do know is hospitals still don't have PPE.
