Ivanka defies social distancing and travels to New Jersey for Passover after urging Americans to stay home
Ivanka Trump seems to be living by the saying, "Do as I say and not as I do" as she reportedly traveled to her second home in New Jersey with her husband, Jared Kushner, for Passover, after urging her followers to stay at home amid the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
Going against federal guidelines on travel, the first daughter reportedly traveled more than 200 miles on April 8 with her family from their Washington DC home to the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster for the first day of Passover. Her family members included Kushner, who just like Ivanka is also a senior adviser to her father's administration, and their three children.
Sources told the New York Times that Ivanka stayed in Bedminster and continued to work via phone and video calls after April 8. It is unclear as to the mode of travel she took to get to New Jersey. However, being a member of the First family comes with its own set of perks, like the Secret Service. So she might well have been driven to her second home by agents in under four hours by road.
If she chose to fly to the destination, she would have to have taken a commercial flight from Washington DC to Newark. Another alternative would be a government plane. Regardless of her mode of travel, any of them would have involved the Secret Service having to forego social distancing norms just because Ivanka wanted to spend Passover elsewhere.
The move came a week after Ivanka took to social media a video where she implored fellow Americans to not go out of their homes if it wasn't absolutely necessary. "Those lucky enough to be in a position to stay at home, please, please do so. Each and every one of us plays a role in slowing the spread," she said in the video that was posted on her Twitter and Instagram pages.
While it is not known exactly when Ivanka Trump made the trip, she was last seen at the White House on April 7. Her husband, on the other hand, was seen leaving their Kalorama, Washington, home on April 8 to go to work. He was again spotted on April 14. So if he did leave the state to join his wife and children, he must have separately traveled back.
The President's Coronavirus Guidelines that advised Americans to "avoid discretionary travel" such as "shopping trips and social visits." was published by the White House on March 16. By the end of last month, the White House issued additional guidelines on social distancing.
Then there was "shelter-in-place orders issued by a number of cities and states in the US. For example, Washington DC issued a stay-at-home order for all residents except for engaging in essential activities from April 1.
New Jersey led the tri-state area in issuing a stay-at-home order on March 21. State leaders ordered residents not to leave their homes unless they were running emergency or essential errands, seeking medical attention, or getting their daily dose of exercise.
According to NYT, Ivanka has insisted that she was in a more socially distant place than her home in Washington as the Bedminster golf club is currently closed.