Jared Kushner, a senior advisor and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, Monday defended the administration's response to coronavirus after White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' comments about controlling the pandemic and in the midst of a West Wing outbreak that has sickened several key aides to Vice President Mike Pence.
"We have to have a balanced approach, but the job of the federal government has been to make sure that we get supplies to people that need it," said Kushner on Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "You heard hysteria stories about not having enough ventilators or gowns time and time and time again that never fulfilled itself."
He insisted that the Trump administration has "done its job," including pushing for a quick turnaround on vaccines.
"We have a lot of vaccines that getting close to the end of the trials and hopefully proven safe that we hope will bring an end to the pandemic," said Kushner. "We definitely have some challenges but President Trump's approach is we will defeat the virus and we will get our country back to a stronger place than ever before."
Meanwhile, Pence's chief of staff Marc Short and several other members of the vice president's staff have tested positive for coronavirus, but Kushner said the work of the administration will continue.
"I spoke to Marc Short and he's feeling fine," said Kushner. "You have a lot of young, healthy people in the West Wing knowing they are taking risks working for the American people and because there's a pandemic doesn't mean we can't stop. People do get it and obviously once that happens, you have to make sure that you get the right care and you're taking care of yourself."
The cases in the West Wing, though, have been "benign," said Kushner, and Pence is "following protocols."
Kushner also on Monday noted Trump's work on foreign policy, including the announcement last week of the peace agreement between Israel and Sudan.
"This is the third peace agreement that we have been able to announce in the last couple of months," said Kushner. "People being in Washington 30, 40 years were never able to work out a single foreign transaction and we achieved three peace deals."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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