Ivanka Trump mocked for saying she's been using pandemic to learn guitar, as eight million fall into poverty

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Recommended Watchdog accuses Ivanka Trump of violating ethics law eight times “So I taught myself, or I am teaching myself how to play guitar,” Ms Trump added. Twitter user @EricDKoch responded to Ms Trump’s comments by highlighting the loss of life during the pandemic, writing: “That’s cool, 24,000 New York City residents died.” At least 23,994 Americans have died in New York City due to coronavirus, while the US death toll has reached at least 220,185. Ms Trump’s comments came a few days after the release of a Columbia University study, which showed that the number of Americans living in poverty has grown by eight million since May. “We find that the monthly poverty rate increased from 15 per cent to 16.7 per cent from February to September 2020, even after taking the CARES Act’s income transfers into account,” the study’s researchers wrote.