New Jared Kushner Audio Tape Shows President Trump At Odds With Doctors In April

Newly released audio from Jared Kushner finds the president was at odds with top healthcare officials as early as April, near the start of a pandemic that is still growing in severity.

"Trump's now back in charge,” Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser, is heard saying during an interview with Washington Post columnist Bob Woodward. “It’s not the doctors.”

The new audio recordings were obtained and transcribed by CNN on Thursday. Kushner was interviewed by Woodward in April for his tell-all book, “Rage.” At the time, Kushner said the country was moving through a “panic phase” and into what he described as a “comeback phase.”

By the time of the interview, the U.S. had recorded upwards of 40,000 deaths from complications with COVID-19. As of Wednesday, that figure stood at 225,985.

President Donald Trump himself is on record with Woodward in February acknowledging the potential danger of the deadly virus while publicly downplaying the severity of the emerging crisis.

“I wanted to, I wanted to always play it down,” the president said. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”

Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 2. After the diagnosis, the president was transported by helicopter from the White House to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a three-day stay.

Despite the infection, the president has insisted the national response to the pandemic is adequate. As recently as last week, the president took to Twitter to call on Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., to “make better decisions.”

The first lady, during a campaign event in Pennsylvania, insisted rival Democrats were irresponsible with their criticism of the president to the detriment of public health.

"While the president was taking decisive action to keep the American people safe, the Democrats were wasting American taxpayer dollars in a sham impeachment,” she was quoted by Real Clear Politics as saying. “They cared more about removing our elected president.”

The U.S. recently topped the half-million mark on total COVID-19 cases after seeing record numbers of daily positives this month, and the worst is yet to come as colder winter weather approaches.