The Department of Health rewrote its definition of the federal health equipment stockpile so it didn't contradict Jared Kushner

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Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner speaks in the press briefing room with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force April 2, 2020 in Washington, DC.

• The Department of Health and Human Services edited its website on Friday in apparent attempt to bring its description of the federal emergency stockpile more closely in line with Jared Kushner's.
• Kushner had attracted criticism for claiming that states should not assume they are able to draw on the stockpile.
• An earlier version of the description had starkly contradicted Kushner's claim, saying that is precisely what the stockpile was for.
• The later version said instead that the stockpile exists only to "supplement" state resources.
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has rewritten the description of the Strategic National Stockpile on its website to match a previous erroneous claim by Jared Kushner.

Kushner on Thursday was criticised after claiming in his first coronavirus task force briefing that states seeking to address shortages of key medical equipment should not expect to be able to draw on the federal stockpiles.

"You also have a situation where in some states FEMA allocated ventilators to the states, and you have instances where in cities they're running out but the state still has a stockpile.

"And 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," said Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Kushner's remarks received widespread criticism on social media, with Democrats pointing out that the stockpile was intended for all American citizens.

And Kushner's description was starkly contradicted by the description of the function of the stockpile on the website of the HHS, which said that the stockpile is "is the nation's largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out."

Business Insider was among the first outlets to highlight the discrepancy.

But on Friday, as criticism of Kushner mounted, the description changed.

The new description is more closely aligned with Kushner's comments on the stockpile on Thursday.

"The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well," reads the new version.

"The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available."

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the description on the website was changed.

In recent weeks the Trump administration has been criticised for failing to ensure that hospitals have enough ventilators to treat the surge in coronavirus patients, and medical equipment to protect the health wrokers and doctors treating them.

Kushner is leading a "shadow" White House coronavirus team, charged with ensuring that medical supplies are delivered to hospitals and testing is rolled out across the country.

Emma LeGault contributed reporting to this article.

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