- A new report from The New York Times examined contentious relationships within the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
- He claims that President Donald Trump attacked his son-in-law Jared Kushner because of the COVID-19 tests.
- “I’m going to lose,” Trump told Kushner during the preparation of the debate. “And it will be your fault, because of the tests.”
- The White House denied that the conversation took place, telling The Times: “President Trump led the largest public and private sector mobilization since World War II to defeat COVID-19 and save lives.”
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
During the course of the pandemic, President Donald Trump criticized his son-in-law Jared Kushner for testing and wearing a mask, according to a New York Times report.
According to The Times, during a meeting of key advisers in the Oval Office on August 19, Trump was irritated by the increase in COVID-19 testing in the U.S., which he blamed for the higher case numbers. “You are killing me! This whole thing is! We have all the damn cases,” Trump allegedly shouted at Kushner.
Trump continued, The Times reported, saying to Kushner, “I want to do what Mexico does. They don’t take a test until you get to the ER and throw up.”
The report claimed that Trump saw the tests “as a mechanism to make him look bad by increasing the number of known cases.”
Trump also criticized Kushner about the tests during the preparation of the debate, according to the report.
“I’m going to lose,” said Trump according to The Times. “And it will be your fault, because of the tests.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement to The Times, a White House spokesman said the conversation with Kushner “never happened”.
“President Trump has led the largest public and private sector mobilization since World War II to defeat COVID-19 and save lives,” White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern told The Times.