White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked on Thursday about Biden's previous description of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as the "gold standard" in responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Does President Biden still think Andrew Cuomo is the gold standard for COVID leadership and is doing a hell of a job, which he has said about him?" Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Psaki.
"To be fair, let's put all the comments in context," Psaki began. "At the time, which was, I believe, April of last year, the President [Biden] spoke out and said positive things about a range of governors, Democrats and Republicans."
Psaki said that these governors had stepped in when, according to her, the federal government under former President Donald Trump was doing nothing to help them.
"He made some positive comments about Governor Cuomo and his role in New York at the time," she said.
Cuomo has become the subject of increasingly intensive controversy over the past few weeks after it was revealed that his state deliberately undercounted the number coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. According to one of his top aides, the state undercounted the deaths in order to prevent the Republicans from using it for the purpose of political attacks during the 2020 presidential election.
Psaki was also asked about sexual harassment claims made against the New York Governor by a former adviser.
Fox's Peter Doocy grills Jen Psaki on sexual harassment allegations raised by Lindsey Boylan against NY Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, noting Biden is meeting later today w/the National Governors Association (which is chaired by Cuomo). Psaki says she deserves to be heard (1/2) pic.twitter.com/E0TEtceAjh
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 25, 2021
"She says Cuomo, while he was Governor, gave her an unwanted kiss on the lips, he asked her to play strip poker, is the White House worried about this becoming a distraction from an important meeting about COVID response?"
Psaki says that President Biden has been "consistent in his position" on the issue of sexual assault allegations, and that the alleged victim should be "hear, not silenced." She said, however, that the White House will still be working with him in the mean time, especially given his leadership position in the National Governors Association.
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