'Entitled out-of-touch bullies': Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner ridiculed after threat to sue Lincoln Project over Times Square ad

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have been derided as "entitled, out-of-touch bullies" for threatening to sue activist group The Lincoln Project for a series of billboards placed in Times Square in New York City criticising their response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Lincoln Project, founded by a group of anti-Trump Republicans, has been spending millions on eye-catching videos, adverts, memes and billboards in an attempt to oust the president and his allies.

In the first of the billboards, a smiling Ms Trump, who like her husband is an adviser to the president, shows off the death toll — 33,366 New Yorkers, 221,245 Americans, it reads, with the 38-year-old striking a "game show reveal" pose.

In the second, Mr Kushner, 39, grins, arms folded, standing besides a row of body bags with the caption: "'New Yorkers are going to suffer and that's their problem' — Jared Kushner, Vanity Fair, September 17, 2020".

The phrase was reportedly uttered by Mr Kushner at a 21 March meeting to discuss obtaining personal protective equipment (PPE).

Mr Kushner, an attendee told Vanity Fair, was highly critical of the Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, for seeking help from the federal government in the midst of the pandemic.

“Cuomo didn’t pound the phones hard enough to get PPE for his state. His people are going to suffer and that’s their problem,” Mr Kushner is quoted as saying.

On Friday, shortly after the billboards appeared, Ms Trump and her husband threatened to sue the Lincoln Project for defamation.

“I am writing concerning the false, malicious and defamatory ads that The Lincoln Project is displaying on billboards in Times Square,” wrote Mark Kasowitz, their lawyer.

“If these billboards are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.”

The Lincoln Project shrugged off the threat, tweeting: "Jared and Ivanka have always been entitled, out-of-touch bullies who have never given the slightest indication they have any regard for the American people.

"We plan on showing them the same level of respect."

In a statement, the group said that Ms Trump and Mr Kushner's response to the billboards was "comical".

“The level of indignant outrage Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have shown towards The Lincoln Project for exposing their indifference for the more than 223,000 people who have lost their lives due to their reckless mismanagement of Covid-19 is comical," they said.

"While we truly enjoy living rent free in their heads, their empty threats will not be taken any more seriously than we take Ivanka and Jared.

“It is unsurprising that an administration that has never had any regard or understanding of our Constitution would try to trample on our first amendment rights, but we fully intend on making this civics lesson as painful as possible.”

They concluded that they felt it was important for Times Square, "the crossroads of the world", to show "the cruelty, audacity and staggering lack of empathy the Trumps and Kushners have displayed towards the American people."