Ivanka and Kushner pulled children from school amid complaints family didn’t follow Covid rules

Fellow parents at the school complained the couple weren’t following Covid protocols as the White House struggled with an outbreak

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner removed their children from a Washington DC private school ahead of the election, after parents expressed concern that the senior White House advisers were ignoring Covid protocols at public events, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. 

“There was no secret about their behaviors, because everyone could see them," a parent at the school, kept anonymous by some news accounts to protect the children’s privacy, told CNN.

“There was concern for the safety of children because it was very clear the Kushner parents were violating public health recommendations,” an anonymous parent at the school told JTA.

The school, which begins full in-person classes next week, confirmed the departure of the family’s three children, who switched to another school in late October. It reportedly tried to work out an agreement with the Trump family over the school’s coronavirus protocols, given their duties as high government officials, to no avail.  

The White House condemned but did not deny the story.

“The Kushners protect the privacy of their children and won’t engage in idle gossip,” Avi Berkowitz, an aide to Mr Kushner, said.

“Unnamed sources attacking a family’s decision about what is best for their kids in the middle of a pandemic is shameful,” said Carolina Hurley, a White House spokeswoman. “As is true for all families, schooling choices and education are deeply personal decisions and they owe no one, especially idle gossips seeking press attention, an explanation.”

The breaking point reportedly came amid a flurry of public events and coronavirus concern at the White House during the fall. Members of the Trump family, including Ivanka, were photographed at a September presidential debate defying officials rules and not wearing masks. In late September, numerous officials and individuals tested positive following a White House ceremony in the Rose Garden honoring Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination, where many weren’t wearing masks. The White House did not contact trace those who where there. Ms Trump and Mr Kushner reportedly did not attend.

Then, in early October, the president and over 20 people at the White House got the virus, with Mr Trump refusing to tell the public exact details surrounding the timeline of his coronavirus tests.

The White House and Trump campaign, which both often flout government-recommended protocols, are now dealing with a second outbreak that has affected the president’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski, as well as over 130 Secret Service officers, who reportedly often went without masks.