Susan Rice called Jared Kushner’s comments “ridiculous” after the President’s son-in-law claimed the Trump administration’s Coronavirus response was a “great success.”
The former national security adviser, who served in the Obama administration, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that Kushner’s view of President Donald Trump’s approach was risible.
“It’s ridiculous,” Rice said. “And it would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious.”
“I don’t know how anybody with a straight face can call this a great success and declare this a mission accomplished moment when more than 60,000 Americans are dead,” she said.
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“It’s ridiculous. And it would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious,†Former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice reacts to Jared Kushner calling the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic a “great success story.†pic.twitter.com/si0FOMn3ZL
— CNN (@CNN) April 30, 2020
Rice said she trusted Dr. Anthony Fauci “implicitly” and agreed with him that a second wave of the virus was likely to occur in the fall. Fauci has been warning about a new surge for days.
“So we are far from being able to declare victory,” Rice went on.
“And in any event, there’s no victory when the losses on the battlefield in less than two months exceed all of those through the entirety of the Vietnam War, 26-plus million Americans are out of work, the GDP is declining at a rate of almost 5%.”
Kushner told Fox News on Wednesday that the administration had met all its goals in the fight against Covid-19.
“President Trump has created a pathway to safely open up our country, and make sure that we can get our economy going, and get Americans back to a place where it will be even stronger than it was,” Kushner said.
“The federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story,” he said.
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Darragh Roche is a journalist covering U.S. politics and media
