Psaki skips question on whether Biden still thinks Cuomo is the “gold standard” in COVID-19 handling

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• During her interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not directly address whether President Joe Biden still treated New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the COVID-19 benchmark leader.
• Psaki said that an investigation would be made given Cuomo’s COVID-19 nursing deaths data cover-up.
• Cuomo has faced calls for resignation since reports about the actual death toll concealment had surfaced.

During an interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dumped a question whether President Joe Biden still looks up to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) as “the gold standard” in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The question came from Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

Biden made a comment about Cuomo in April 2020, saying that the “governor of New York has done one hell of a job,” and that he believed that he was “sort of the gold standard.”

Karl also referred to Cuomo’s alleged non-disclosure of nursing home fatalities and misleading the state’s legislative authorities.

“So does President Biden still consider Andrew Cuomo ‘the gold standard’ when it comes to leadership on the pandemic?” the anchor asked.

“We work with Gov. Cuomo just like we work with governors across the country,” Psaki replied. “He’s also the chair of the NGA [National Governors Association] so he plays an important role in ensuring that we’re coordinating closely and getting assistance out to people of his state and to states across the country and we’ll continue to do that.”

Psaki continued, saying that there would be “a process,” which would include further investigations given the incident. 

“We’ll leave that to others to determine, the appropriate law enforcement authorities to determine how that path is going to move as we look forward,” she added.

The press secretary also said that they will continue working “with a range of governors, including of course Gov. Cuomo because we think the people of New York, the people of states across the country need assistance, not just to get through the pandemic, but to get through this difficult economic time and that’s where our focus remains.”

Karl, however, reiterated his question as he pressed Psaki about the matter.

“But Jen, my question was does President Biden still believe that Andrew Cuomo … represents the gold standard on leadership during this pandemic?” he asked.

“It doesn’t always have to be a yes or no answer,” Psaki responded. “I think the president is focused on his goal, his objective as president of the United States.”

“He’s going to continue to work with Gov. Cuomo just like he’ll continue to work with governors across the country. And I’m not here to give new labels or names from the president, I’m here to communicate with you about what our focuses are and what his objectives are as president,” she continued.

As reports came that Cuomo’s COVID-19 team concealed actual death toll data from the state’s nursing homes, the governor has been confronted with calls for his resignation.

Source: Fox News