Ivanka Trump faces backlash after travelling to New Jersey during lockdown to celebrate passover

Ivanka Trump has been criticised after a White House official revealed that she had travelled with her family to New Jersey to celebrate Passover.

The president's eldest daughter made the trip from Washington DC to Bedminister with her husband Jared Kushner and their children earlier this week, in clear defiance of social distancing guidelines.

In a statement given to CNN, a White House official said:

Ivanka – with her immediate family – celebrated Passover at a closed down facility considered to be a family home.

Her travel was no different than had she been travelling to/from work and the location was less populated than the surrounding area near her home in DC.

While at Bedminster she has been practicing social distancing and working remotely. Her travel was not commercial. She chose to spend a holiday in private with her family.

Ivanka's family had reportedly travelled to Bedminister by car and a New York Timesreport has stated that Kushner has since returned to Washington, while his wife remained in New Jersey until Passover had finished.

Federal guidelines from the White House say that members of the public should "avoid discretionary travel, shopping trips, and social visits" as well as avoiding mass gatherings. In addition, Ivanka's trip was in clear violation of advice from the CDC which encouraged people from the tri-state area – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – to "refrain from non-essential domestic travel" for at least two weeks. New Jersey currently has the second most confirmed cases and deaths in the United States behind New York.

Ivanka, who has already had to self-isolate during the pandemic after coming into contact with individuals who had coronavirus, has received a backlash after this story was made public as millions of people are having to go without travelling and not seeing their loved ones due to the strict advice that has been put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

Donald Trump was not asked about Ivanka's trip during Thursday's coronavirus task force press briefing at the White House.

At the time of writing, the United States has confirmed more than 630,000 cases of coronavirus, more than any other nation in the world, which has resulted in at least 31,000 deaths.