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Coronavirus: Trump irate after Kushner and Hope Hicks’ involvement led to announcing non-existent Google site

The confusion of announcing a then non-existent site occurred after White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his team, including Hope Hicks, became involved in the coronavirus response efforts

BY NAMRATA TRIPATHI

UPDATED MAR 20, 2020

President Donald Trump was reportedly enraged after he announced Google was creating a website to assist with information related to coronavirus, only to catch the tech Giant off guard. Reports stated that the confusion occurred after Trump's son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his team became involved in the coronavirus response efforts. Kushner's team now includes Hope Hicks, the former communications director who returned to the White House to work for Kushner.

The White House, however, denied a report which claimed that the president was furious with Kushner. A senior administration official close to Kushner said: "I know the president appreciates the tremendous effort he's put into this," the Daily Mail reported. "The president asked Jared to get involved in and he has been doing so."

The senior official added that Kushner's team is helping Vice President Mike Pence and his office coordinate with multiple federal agencies in an attempt to provide swift response amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Google website which the president announced on Friday was a part of his administration efforts to calm fears about the deadly outbreak. However, it was later revealed that the tech giant was not working on such a site, but its subsidiary firm, Verily, was formulating one for the Bay Area of California.

President Donald Trump looks on after signing one of five executive orders related to the oil pipeline industry in the Oval Office of the White House January 24, 2017 in Washington, DC. Also pictured are White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (L), White House Communications Director Hope Hicks (2nd R) and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner (R). (Getty Images)

Verily, in a statement after Trump's declaration, said: "We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for COVID-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time."

The New York Times later reported that Trump complained to his aides, saying that the coverage was terrible after he promised a national website on Google, which was not in works. Google, however, on Saturday, announced that it was now partnering with the federal government to launch a nationwide site on coronavirus alerts and updates.

"Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a nationwide website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing information," the company in a statement said.

The president, on Sunday, condemned the media for its earlier reports that Google was not working on any such website. "I want to thank the people at Google and Google Communications because, as you know, they substantiated what I said on Friday," he said on Sunday. "The head of Google, who's a great gentleman, called us and he apologized. I don't know where the press got their fake news, but they got it someplace."

Coronavirus in the United States has claimed at least 114 lives and has infected over 6,000 across the region, with all 50 states reporting cases.