Kushner’s task force of inexperienced volunteers ‘prioritised Trump associates’, coronavirus whistleblower report claims

President's son-in-law has been under fire for his unduly prominent role in administration's response to pandemic

The Trump administration is facing a growing scandal in the form of multiple allegations that the coronavirus response effort headed by Jared Kushner relied heavily on unqualified volunteers – and that some were told to prioritise deals with Donald Trump’s allies and contacts.

It comes as Mr Trump denied reports he may start winding down the principal coronavirus task force over the next month, though he has increasingly emphasised that he wants to get the country “back to work”.

Dual accounts in the Washington Post and the New York Times report that a former volunteer on the Kushner-led task force has filed a whistleblower complaint with a House of Representatives committee drawing attention to the problems caused by the unpaid staff’s inexperience.

Citing administration sources, the reports that a team set up to help procure supplies of protective equipment for hospitals was made up largely of young volunteers from the private sector, mostly consultancies and private equity firms.

Many of these volunteers came with no experience of government, supply chain management or healthcare, and their team’s work reportedly made little impact on the US’s efforts to obtain vitally needed supplies.

The volunteers, some of whom reportedly used personal email addresses, were also directed its workers to prioritise leads from associates of Mr Trump himself. According to the whistleblower’s memo to the house committee, these included Republican members of Congress and sympathetic right-wing journalists.

According to the New York Times, the whistleblower memo says the many problems with the volunteers’ work “affect the entire chain of command, hamper our ability to respond and could result in many Americans losing their lives”.

Mr Kushner’s role in the coronavirus response has been a target of criticism ever since it was announced. The main bone of contention is his general lack of any relevant experience in public health or disaster response, but he has also caught flack over various public statements, including a recent interview where he called the government’s handling of the crisis “a great success story” even as the US’s total number of cases surpassed 1 million.

Most notoriously, in one of his first performances at a coronavirus press briefing, he described the federal stockpile of medical supplies as “our stockpile”, as opposed to “the states’ stockpile that they then use”.

After his comments were met with both anger and ridicule, the website of the Strategic National Stockpile was updated to match his description of its purpose.