White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiSunday shows the preview: guidance for the reopening of CDC schools arouses debate; Texas battle winter to freeze Biden to virtually meet Canada’s Trudeau on Tuesday. Iran presents initial test for Biden’s diplomacy – approach first MORE avoided answering questions on Sunday about whether President biden
Joe BidenNearly 70 dead in states with severe winter weather: report Two more confirmed deaths in Louisiana related to severe winter weather Lawyer who filed a lawsuit to reverse the 2020 election results sent by the judge for discipline MORE still believes that the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo Governors in dire straits because of their response to coronavirus Media promotion to Governor Cuomo looks very bad now Cancún Cruz deserves to be swept away, but the selective media outrage is painfully apparent MORE (D) represents the “gold standard” when it comes to leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.
On ABC’s “This Week” program, host Jonathan Karl played a tape from Biden last April saying that Cuomo was “kind of a gold standard” while New York battled skyrocketing cases in the early months of the pandemic, adding that the governor “did an incredible job”. The way in which Cuomo’s office deals with coronavirus outbreaks in the state’s asylums is now the subject of a federal investigation by the FBI and the United States attorney in Brooklyn, who is investigating unidentified members of the Cuomo government.
When asked whether Biden still believes that Cuomo represents the “gold standard”, Psaki insisted that Biden would continue to work with Cuomo, as he would with all governors.
“We work with Governor Cuomo in the same way that we work with governors across the country,” said Psaki, highlighting his position as president of the National Association of Governors. “It plays an important role in ensuring that we are closely coordinating obtaining assistance for people in your state and for states across the country and we will continue to do so.”
Psaki said investigations into deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic would be left to law enforcement authorities to “determine how this path will move as we look ahead, but we will continue to work with a number of governors, including, of course, the governor. Cuomo because we think that the people of New York, the people of states across the country need help not only to overcome the pandemic, but to overcome this difficult economic moment and that is where our focus remains. ”
When Karl pressed again if Biden still believes Cuomo is the gold standard in leadership during the pandemic, asking her to answer “just yes or no”, Psaki said, “It doesn’t always have to be a yes or no answer, Jon.”
“I think the president is focused on his goal, his goals as president of the United States,” said Psaki. “I’m not here to give new labels or names to the president, I’m here to communicate to you what our focuses are and what your goals are as president.”
Cuomo has faced growing criticism, including from other Democrats in New York, which has also prompted the Democratic state Senate leadership to take steps to remove its emergency powers amid questions about deaths in nursing homes. He refused to apologize, blaming critics for being in a “toxic political environment”.