Trump Advisor Jared Kushner Calls Administration’s Coronavirus Response 'A Great Success Story' As Cases Rise

In an interview Wednesday with Fox News, White House senior advisor Jared Kushner called the Trump administration’s response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a “great success story.”

“We’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this. The federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story,” Kushner told the “Fox and Friends” program.

Kushner was also optimistic that normal life would return to most of the U.S. by June, despite concerns that cases could spike when restrictive measures are lifted.

"I think what you’ll see in May, as the states are reopening now, is May will be a transition month, you’ll see a lot of states starting to phase in the different reopening based on the safety guidelines that President Trump outlined on April 19,” he said. "I think you’ll see by June that a lot of the country should be back to normal, and the hope is that by July the country’s really rocking again."

The Trump administration has frequently been criticized for its response to the pandemic, with Trump downplaying the virus in the early stages of the outbreak. There have also been questions about Kushner's role during the pandemic due to his lack of experience. The New York Times on March 12 noted that those who have spoken to Kushner say he considers the coronavirus problem is "more about public psychology than a health reality."

The Kushner-backed "Project Airbridge," a public-private partnership that aims to bring medical supplies to hospitals, has been criticized for its lack of transparency.

“We applaud and support efforts to quickly bring medical supplies to states, territories, and tribal nations who desperately need them, but we are concerned by the Trump Administration’s process for doing so, which appears to be—at least in part—driven by politics rather than public health, and delegates decisions about distribution to private companies with little to no transparency about how distribution and pricing decisions are made,” read a letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

The letter was sent to six medical supply companies participating in the initiative.

Kushner and his wife, first daughter Ivanka Trump, faced criticism for "discretionary travel" by driving from Washington to the Trump hotel in Bedminster, New Jersey, for the Passover holiday.

The coronavirus originated at an animal and seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, with the U.S. having the largest number of cases in the world. As of 6:30 p.m ET, there are over 1 million coronavirus cases and over 60,000 deaths.