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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday dodged a question about whether President Biden still sees New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the “gold standard” of leadership during the pandemic coronavirus.
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Psaki did not respond directly to a question from chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, who highlighted Biden’s April 2020 comments.
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At the time, Biden said that “the governor of New York did a hell of a job” and that he thought Cuomo was “some kind of gold standard.”
Karl pointed to the New York governor’s alleged undercoverage of nursing home deaths and allegedly misleading state legislatures.
“Does President Biden still see Andrew Cuomo as the ‘gold standard’ for leadership on the pandemic?” Karl asked.
“We work with Governor Cuomo, just like we work with governors across the country,” Psaki replied. “He is also the president of the NGA [National Governors Association] so he plays an important role in making sure that we coordinate closely and help people in his state and states across the country and we will continue to do so. “
Psaki went on to say that “there will of course be a process,” which she said will include investigations, adding that “we will leave that to others to determine, to the appropriate law enforcement authorities. to determine how this path is going. to move forward as we expect. “
She then said that “we will continue to work with a range of governors, including of course Governor Cuomo because we believe that the people of New York, the people of states across the country need help, not only to get through the pandemic., but to get through these tough economic times and that’s where our focus remains. “
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Karl pressed Psaki on the question, reiterating his question.
“But Jen, my question was, does President Biden still believe Andrew Cuomo… represents the golden standard for leadership during this pandemic?” he asked, adding that he was looking for a “yes” or “no” answer.
“It doesn’t always have to be a yes or no answer,” Psaki replied. “I think the president is focused on his goal, his goal as president of the United States.”
“He will continue to work with Governor Cuomo just as he will continue to work with governors across the country,” she continued. “And I’m not here to give new labels or names for the president, I’m here to communicate with you about our priorities and what his goals are as president.”
Cuomo has been called on to resign since The Associated Press reported his administration vastly underestimated the number of recovering COVID-19 patients who have been referred to nursing homes for recovery under a controversial order that he implemented last March. The Associated Press found that nearly 15,000 long-term care patients have died from COVID-19 in nursing homes, up from around 8,500 previously disclosed deaths.
Criticism escalated after Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa admitted on a private call that the administration withheld data requested by New York state legislatures because they feared they are not “used against us” by the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Cuomo held a press conference in which the beleaguered Democratic governor of New York admitted he should have acted sooner to release relevant data relating to COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes in Canada. amid growing criticism of his administration’s handling of the scandal.
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The governor sought to clarify his team’s actions at the press conference, telling reporters that the Justice Department and state legislatures submitted data requests at the same time last summer. Cuomo said his team has chosen to prioritize the federal investigation and informed state lawmakers that their data request will be “put on hold” in the meantime.
But several Democratic lawmakers, including New York State Senator Jessica Ramos, Alessandra Biaggi and Gustavo Rivera, have denied that Cuomo’s office ever informed them of his decision.
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Cuomo claimed state legislatures were “wrong” to suggest they were never notified of the delay in their data request. He has repeatedly denied that his office concealed or misrepresented nursing home death data.
Thomas Barrabi of Fox News contributed to this report.
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