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Psaki On The Message Biden Sends By Not Calling For Cuomo To Resign: ‘Our Objective’ Is The Pandemic

   DailyWire.com
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 11: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki listens during a daily press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 11, 2021 in Washington, DC. Psaki held a briefing to answer questions from members of the press.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged questions during Monday’s press briefing about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and why President Joe Biden won’t call on Cuomo to resign amid multiple scandals that are facing the governor.

“The president is the head of the Democratic Party, what message is he sending by not calling on the New York governor to resign?” a reporter asked. “Tomorrow is the usual weekly call with governors. Governor Cuomo is still the head of the National Governor’s Association, he usually attends. Is he still welcome on the White House committee call?”

Psaki responded that the administration finds all the new developments “troubling” and “hard to read,” adding, “every woman who steps forward needs to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Psaki continued:

The New York attorney general is pursuing, of course, an independent investigation against Governor Cuomo and that is appropriate. The president believes that’s appropriate, as does the vice president. The investigation needs to be both quick and thorough, consistent with how serious these allegations are. Of course, our objective though, here, continues to be to get the COVID pandemic under control and we don’t want the people of New York or any state to be impacted negatively. We will continue to work with a range of governors, including Governor Cuomo, who I would expect would join the call tomorrow, we’ll leave that up to him, but in order to continue to coordinate on getting the pandemic under control and economic assistance out the door.

When asked if Biden has spoken to Cuomo, Psaki said “no” and further added that she was “not aware” of anyone in the White House having spoken to Cuomo.

Another reporter pressed Psaki about a report from over the weekend that said that New York’s vaccine czar, who is a top Cuomo adviser, called county officials to gauge their loyalty to Cuomo amid his nursing home scandal and sexual harassment investigation.

“I wanted to see if the President is concerned that vaccine distribution in New York has become politicized, and is the administration taking any steps to make sure that political favoritism is not tainting access to vaccine [inaudible]?” the reporter asked.

Psaki said that the administration found the reports “concerning” but that there were “a number of checks in the system” to “track and monitor distribution.”

“So, we were concerned of course, about the reports of this inappropriate behavior, but we also have a number of steps that are already in the system to ensure that the people of New York, the people of any state, the vaccines are distributed fairly and equitably,” Psaki claimed.

“And also, on Cuomo’s following up from an earlier question, it’s our understanding that Governor Cuomo, he doesn’t merely participate in these calls, these COVID calls, but he has in fact, leads them and is a big player, in terms of organizing them,” the reporter asked. “And so we’re curious if the president has any concerns with that, with his sort of level of leadership over this critical piece in the COVID response?”

“Well, it would be up to the NGA to determine if they were to make a change on that front. It’s also up to the legislature and others in New York to determine if he still has the confidence of the people in the state,” Psaki responded. “But our focus from here, from the federal government, is of course supporting that independent investigation, which we adamantly do. But also working with governors across the country, with the NGA, with the DGA, with others, to address issues that come up, or hear from them and listen to them and work with them on addressing COVID, getting the pandemic under control, et cetera. And we will continue to work with a range of governors across the country.”

The reporter noted that under the Trump administration, it was Vice President Mike Pence who led the calls and that the Biden administration apparently put Cuomo in charge of leading the calls.

When asked if the White House was comfortable with Cuomo leading the calls, Psaki refused to answer. “Again, I think he’s in that position because he is head of the NGA,” Psaki said. “And it’s up to the NGA to determine if that’s where they want to see things moving forward.”

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