21 February 2021: President Biden Still Seems Okay with Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Psaki sidesteps questions on Cuomo's leadership during pandemic

This article demonstrates the difficulty the Biden-Harris administration is having in honestly addressing Governor Cuomo's scandals.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki avoided answering questions on Sunday on whether President Biden still believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) represents the "gold standard" when it comes to leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.

On ABC's "This Week," host Jonathan Karl played a tape from last April of Biden saying Cuomo was "sort of the gold standard" as New York battled with skyrocketing cases in the early months of the pandemic, adding that the governor "has done one hell of a job." Cuomo's office's handling of coronavirus outbreaks in the state's nursing homes is now the subject of a federal investigation by the FBI and the U.S attorney in Brooklyn, who is probing unidentified members of Cuomo's administration.

When asked if Biden still believes Cuomo represents the "gold standard," Psaki insisted that Biden would continue to work with Cuomo, as he would with all governors....

When Karl pressed again whether Biden still believes Cuomo is the gold standard on leadership during the pandemic, asking her to answer "just a yes or no," Psaki said, "It doesn't always have to be a yes or no answer, Jon."

Psaki's less-than-forthright responses suggest, at a minimum, that she is less than capable of communicating the Biden-Harris administration's position regarding Governor Cuomo's nursing home fatality-related scandals. At worse, her comments suggest the Biden-Harris administration may be tolerant of them.