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WATCH: Psaki REFUSES To Answer If Biden Believes Andrew Cuomo Should Resign Amid Scandals

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Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, March 12, 2021. President Biden offered Americans a glimpse of hope that life would begin to return to normal this summer as he marked a year of U.S. shutdowns and death, ordering a further acceleration of the governments efforts to end the pandemic.
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to answer questions Friday on whether President Joe Biden thinks New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) should resign amid two scandals that he is facing.

The question to Psaki came as high profile U.S. Democratic lawmakers from New York called on Cuomo to resign on Friday amid allegations that he sexually harassed aides. Cuomo is also facing intense criticism over how he handled nursing homes during the pandemic.

“The President believes that every woman who’s come forward — there have now been six, I believe, who have come forward — deserves to have her voice heard, should be treated with respect, and should be able to tell her story,” Psaki said. “There also is an independent investigation that is ongoing, of course, in the state, with subpoena power overseen by the attorney general, and he certainly supports that moving forward. We, of course, have watched the news of a number of lawmakers call for that, but I don’t have any additional announcements from here.”

When asked if the White House still had “faith in Governor Cuomo” in terms of managing New York’s response to the pandemic, Psaki responded, “Well, we certainly don’t want anyone in the state of New York to be penalized, meaning not have access to vaccines, to vaccinators; not have access to funding from the Rescue Plan.”

“And certainly we will continue to work with a range of officials to get that done and get it implemented,” she concluded. “But the president and our COVID Response Team works with governors across the country, including Governor Cuomo, to implement these plans, and will continue to do that.”

Biden has previously praised Cuomo as the “gold standard” in responding to the pandemic. Biden also reportedly was considering making Cuomo his attorney general.

WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT:

REPORTER: Thank you, Jen. A number of influential New York lawmakers, including Representatives Nadler and Ocasio-Cortez, have now called for the resignation of Governor Cuomo in the light of new allegations of harassment, including one that was referred to law enforcement. My first question is simply this: Does the president believe the governor should resign?

PSAKI: The President believes that every woman who’s come forward — there have now been six, I believe, who have come forward — deserves to have her voice heard, should be treated with respect, and should be able to tell her story. There also is an independent investigation that is ongoing, of course, in the state, with subpoena power overseen by the attorney general, and he certainly supports that moving forward.

We, of course, have watched the news of a number of lawmakers call for that, but I don’t have any additional announcements from here.

REPORTER: A follow-up on this. In light of the investigation, in light that he has had some of his pandemic response powers taken away, does the White House still have faith in Governor Cuomo, if he remains in his position, overseeing the response to the pandemic in the state of New York?

PSAKI: Well, we certainly don’t want anyone in the state of New York to be penalized, meaning not have access to vaccines, to vaccinators; not have access to funding from the Rescue Plan. And certainly we will continue to work with a range of officials to get that done and get it implemented.

But the president and our COVID Response Team works with governors across the country, including Governor Cuomo, to implement these plans, and will continue to do that.

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