08/25/20
Jared Kushner made a deal with Russia for ventilators during the COVID-19 crisis, but every single machine was faulty, report says
By SINÉAD BAKER
Pallets with personal protective equipment are unloaded from a FedEx cargo plane in Manchester, New Hampshire, in April.
Jared Kushner facilitated the delivery of 45 ventilators from Russia to the US earlier this year, two senior administration officials told The Daily Beast.
Those ventilators turned out to be faulty and were cast aside, local officials told the news outlet.
The report said that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s staffers were surprised to see the supplies arriving from Russia.
According to The Daily Beast, Kushner hurried the order along via a personal relationship with the CEO of a Russian sovereign wealth fund that’s under US sanctions.
Jared Kushner brokered a deal with Russia for 45 ventilators to be brought to the US to help with the coronavirus crisis, but they all turned out to be faulty, a new report says.
The delivery arrived but fell short of expectations. Officials in New York and New Jersey told The Daily Beast that the ventilators didn’t work.
Other outlets had reported on problems with the ventilators; two US officials told ABC News in May that they could not be used immediately because of voltage issues.
ABC also reported that the shipment contained thousands of medical supplies that are not commonly used by hospitals, like household cleaning gloves, and that Russia billed the US almost $US660,000 for them.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had been asking the Trump administration for more ventilators, saying on March 24 that the state needed 30,000 more.
“We’ve tried everything else,” Cuomo said. “The only way we can obtain these ventilators is from the federal government. Period.”
More:
https://www.businessinsider. com.au/kushner-sourced-covid-ventilators-from-russia-that-didnt-work-report-2020-8?r=US&IR