Coronavirus: Jared Kushner labelled 'useless' by Hurricane Katrina commander

The president's son-in-law faces backlash for referring to 'our stockpile'

Retired lieutenant general Russel Honoré, who is known for his proactive response during Hurricane Katrina, has labelled Jared Kushner "clueless" for his comments on efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Honoré appeared on MSNBC and was asked about President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser after his performance at the daily press briefing on Thursday.

"I don't believe he knows what the hell he's talking about," Mr Honoré said. "He's totally clueless as to what he's talking about."

The lieutenant general is credited for correcting the initially flawed job by the federal government in the recovery response after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.

His comments came after Mr Kushner raised some eyebrows when he said the federal government's Strategic National Stockpile was "our stockpile" and not for the states. The senior adviser, who is married to Ivanka Trump, has been tapped to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on the supply chain of medical supplies.

"The notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile," Mr Kushner said. "It's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use."

The stockpile, by definition, "is the nation's largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out," according to previous wording on the US government's website.

"When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency. Organised for scalable response to a variety of public health threats, this repository contains enough supplies to respond to multiple large-scale emergencies simultaneously."

The Trump administration later amended the government's website to support Mr Kushner's claims the stockpile was not for the states.

"The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available," it now reads.

Mr Trump was asked about the backlash on Friday with the stockpile comments, and he attempted to defend his son-in-law.

"You know what 'our' means? United States of America," the president said.

He was then pressed on why Mr Kushner's comments insinuated the ventilators were not for the states since the states make up the United States of America.

"Because we need it for the government, we need it for the federal government," Mr Trump said. "To keep for our country because the federal government needs it too, not just the states."

"Excuse me, he's talking about the federal government," he added after growing angry at one reporter. "It's such a basic and simple question and you try and make it sound so bad. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Mr Trump did not detail what the federal government intended to do with the ventilators instead of giving them to the states.