Jared Kushner, senior advisor to the president of the United States, and his wife Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump have threatened to file lawsuit against Lincoln Project for their billboard ads in Times Square. The ads mock the couple for their response to the coronavirus pandemic. The two giant pro-Joe Biden billboards show Ivanka smiling and pointing at the COVID-19 death toll numbers of New York residents and Kushner mocking the death toll in New York.
The ad owners Lincoln Project revealed the project on Thursday and have stated that they will not remove the ads despite the family’s threats. Lincoln project told reporters that they are going to file a countersuit if Ivanka and Kushner sue. The ads show Kushner and Ivanka smiling at the number of people who have died from coronavirus in New York and the United States in total.
The image of Ivanka used in the Lincoln Project Ads seems to be from a selfie she had shared on Twitter in July. In the July selfie, Ivanka had been pointing at a can of Goya black beans. On another billboard adjoining Ivanka’s, Kushner stands close to body bags with a quote that reads “[New Yorkers] are going to suffer and that’s their problem” referring to Kushner’s alleged quote reported in a Vanity Fair article in September, Fox News reports.
The Lincoln Project which was founded in December last year is a political committee that was formed by ex-Republican politicians to stop President Donald Trump’s reelection bid. The committee tweeted a letter that Marc Kasowitz, the Trump family lawyer sent to them on Friday. The letter reveals Ivanka and Kushner’s threat about suing the Lincoln Project if it doesn’t immediately take down the billboard. The billboard is described as “false, malicious and defamatory.”
“Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement, Ms. Trump never made any such gesture, and the Lincoln Project’s representations that they did are an outrageous and shameful libel,” Kasowitz’s letter reads.
The lawyer added in his letter that if the Lincoln project doesn’t immediately take down the ads, the family will proceed to the courtroom to demand ‘enormous compensatory and punitive damages’
An article in Vanity Fair’s September 17 edition had attributed a part of the quote to Kushner. According to the article, during a White House meeting with an ad hoc private sector committee about the country’s reaction to the pandemic, Kushner had allegedly stated that Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York had not been active enough when requesting for PPE for his state, as such New Yorkers will suffer and that was their problem.
An anonymous individual that attended the meeting which was reportedly held on March 21 had told Vanity Fair about the statement.
Source: politico.com