Donald Trump defends Jared Kushner’s ‘our stockpile’ remark

President Donald Trump became confrontational when a reporter tried to clarify previous comments made by Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner. During a White House conference on Friday evening, the POTUS defended senior adviser and his son-in-law for his comments about the Strategic National Stockpile.

Donald Trump was asked by CBS News’ Weijia Jiang to clarify Kushner’s statements about the Strategic National Stockpile, which is the nation’s supply of drugs and medical equipment that is reserved for a health crisis. On Thursday, Kushner said that “the notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile — it's not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use," according to Business Insider.

According to the report, the phrase “our stockpile” used by Kushner “seemed to imply that the stockpile was not meant for states to use.” That’s why Weijia Jiang asked Trump what Kushner exactly meant with the phrase.

“You know what 'our' means? United States of America,” Donald Trump Trump told Jiang, The Hill reported. “We take that – ‘our’ – and we distribute it to the states.”

When pressed further why Kushner said that the stockpile wasn’t for states’ use, the President explained that the federal government needs it. “Because we need it for the government, we need it for the federal government,” the POTUS 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,” Trump added. “It’s such a basic and simple question and you try and make it sound so bad. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

However, there are those who criticized Kushner’s remarks. “The federal stockpile is reserved for all Americans living in our states, not just federal employees. Get it?” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) posted on Twitter.

The Strategic National Stockpile was set up by President Bill Clinton. He reportedly pushed for its creation in 1998 after reading a fictional novel about bioterrorism.

A day after Kushner’s comments, the language of about the stockpile on the HHS’ site was changed. “The Trump administration just changed its language about the Strategic National Stockpile on an HHS website to jibe with Jared Kushner's claim that this isn't for the states,” Aaron Blake posted on Twitter.