Jared Kushner bragged Donald Trump was ‘getting country back from the doctors' in April

Jared Kushner bragged about Donald Trump “getting the country back from the doctors” in an April interview with journalist Bob Woodward, a report says.

The senior White House advisor boasted that the president was ignoring scientists and medical experts as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded, according to audio obtained by CNN.

In a taped interview with the famed journalist on April 18, Mr Kushner claimed that US was moving past the "panic phase" and "pain phase" of the pandemic and was at the "beginning of the comeback phase.”

"That doesn't mean there's not still a lot of pain and there won't be pain for a while, but that basically was, we've now put out rules to get back to work," said Mr Kushner.

?"Trump's now back in charge. It's not the doctors."

Mr Kushner’s comments to Mr Woodward came as more than 40,000 Americans had died from the virus and as the president was urging state’s to re-open.

There have now been more than 232,000 deaths from Covid-19 and the country has passed nine million positive cases.

Virus cases are surging around the US, with a record peak of 83,000 daily cases reported last week.

Observers say that although progress is being made on a vaccine it will likely not be widely available until 2021.

Mr Kushner sat down with Mr Woodward for two interviews for his book on the Trump administration entitled Rage.

He also told Mr Woodward that his father-in-law had completed a “full hostile takeover” of the Republican party when he became their nominee.

“The most dangerous people around the President are over-confident idiots,” said Mr Kusher.

And he added that Mr Trump had replaced them with “more thoughtful people who kind of know their place.”

Mr Woodward also carried out 18 taped interviews with the president from December to July.

The president told him that he knew Covid-19 was more deadly than flu before it hit but had downplayed its seriousness.

Mr Trump told the journalist that the virus was “deadly stuff” but that he had not wanted to cause public panic.