According to sources cited by the New York Post, Trump warned real estate magnate Stanley Chera that leaving for his summer home in New Jersey would be “safer.”
Update (April 13, 11 a.m.): Stanley Chera has died from complications related to COVID-19.
In public, President Trump has repeatedly reassured Americans that the coronavirus is “totally under control.” In private, however, Trump warned a close friend of his to leave New York City as the pandemic was worsening. The city has become the biggest coronavirus hotspot in the United States.
According to sources cited by the New York Post, Trump warned Stanley Chera, a 78-year-old New York City real estate magnate, that leaving for his summer home near Deal, New Jersey, would be “safer.” The warning seems to have worked, as Chera fled the city for New Jersey.
There are nearly 39,000 COVID-19 cases in New York, with the majority documented in New York City. More than 350 people have died of the virus in the city.
But Chera is now back in New York City, after he was hospitalized at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center with an unknown illness. Chera’s son, Haim Chera, told the Post on Monday that his father was “doing very well.”
When asked about the matter, a White House spokesperson only told the Post that Trump was “connected with Stanley” and that “all is resolved.”
Through his Crown Acquisitions company, Chera is an investor in multiple World Trade Center buildings and several other retail properties, including the Fulton Mall. The company also owned stores at the base of 666 Fifth Ave., when the family of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, owned the building.
Keya Vakil Keya is a reporter at COURIER, where he covers everything from healthcare to climate change. Prior to joining Courier Newsroom, Keya worked as a researcher in the film industry and dabbled in the political world.
