Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner Upset Over COVID-19 Response Billboards Targeting Them, Threaten Lawsuit

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have a bone to pick with the Lincoln Project. As the New York Daily News reported, in Times Square, there have been billboards installed that feature Trump and Kushner along with messages about how President Donald Trump and his administration have been handling the coronavirus pandemic. The publication noted that the couple is threatening to sue Lincoln Project, the organization behind the ads. The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee formed by former Republicans and aims to prevent the incumbent president from being re-elected.

While both Trump and Kushner work closely with the president’s administration, they do not want to accept any of the blame for the administration’s failures regarding their coronavirus response. They have threatened to sue the Lincoln Project because the billboards that they installed in Times Square show the couple along with various facts and figures about the president and his team’s response to the pandemic. One of the billboards showcases Trump smiling alongside figures about how many Americans have died amidst the pandemic. The other features Kushner, along with a quote of his that reads, “[New Yorkers] are going to suffer and that’s their problem.” Their lawyer, Mark Kasowitz, penned a letter in which he called for the billboards to be removed immediately.

“Those ads show Ms. Trump smiling and gesturing toward a death count of Americans and New Yorkers, and attribute to Mr. Kushner the statement that “[New Yorkers] are going to suffer and that’s their problem,” Kasowitz wrote in the letter. “Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement, [and] Ms. Trump never made any such gesture.” He added, “If these billboards are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.” As for the Lincoln Project, they had a one-word response to the letter on Twitter, as they posted it and called it “Nuts!”

The Lincoln Project also cautioned that “a legal response will be coming soon.” In a lengthier statement, which they published on Friday, the organization related that the billboards will stay up. They also called Trump and Kushner’s “level of indignant outrage” over the billboards “comical.” “Jared and Ivanka have always been entitled, out-of-touch bullies who have never given the slightest indication they have any regard for the American people,” the Lincoln Project’s statement said. “The billboards will stay up. We consider it important that in Times Square, the crossroads of the world, people are continuously reminded of the cruelty, audacity and staggering lack of empathy the Trumps and the Kushners have displayed towards the American people.”