Last year, when media and Democrats were trying to attack President Donald Trump over the Wuhan coronavirus, they were heavily invested in setting up NY Governor Andrew Cuomo as a counter point Democratic hero over the virus.

Even Joe Biden in April of last year tried to claim that the “governor of New York has done one hell of a job” and that Cuomo was “the gold standard” with how to deal with the virus. This was already after Cuomo had issued his March 25 order requiring nursing homes to take in virus-positive patients.

As we reported in May, the number of nursing home-related deaths was then covered up by not reporting the death as a “nursing home related death” if the person was taken to the hospital and died there. That change in how they calculated came after the scandal hit about Cuomo’s nursing home order. Then in the past couple of weeks, Cuomo’s aide Melissa De Rosa admitted to Democratic legislators that Cuomo’s staff didn’t turn over data to them because they were afraid of federal investigations. After that a Democratic Assemblyman, Ron Kim, reported that he’d been threatened by Cuomo, who allegedly told Kim that he was going to “destroy” him for Kim demanding answers in the matter. Kim’s uncle was one of those nursing home residents who died from the virus. Kim had the receipts showing Cuomo had called him.

So when Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki appeared on ABC This Week today with Jon Karl, she actually got a surprisingly good question from Karl. He asked her about the Cuomo controversy and asked if Joe Biden still regarded Cuomo as the “gold standard.”

Psaki had that deer in the headlights, oh, no, why did he ask me that question look. She didn’t answer the question, but did her best to spin.

“We work with Gov. Cuomo just like we work with governors across the country,” Psaki said. “He’s also the chair of the NGA [National Governors Association] so he plays an important role in ensuring that we’re coordinating closely and getting assistance out to people of his state and to states across the country and we’ll continue to do that.”
She said that she would leave to others, “appropriate law enforcement authorities,” going forward. But that they would continue to work with Cuomo to deal with the pandemic.

Karl wouldn’t let the question go. “Jen, my question was, does President Biden still believe that Andrew Cuomo represents the ‘gold standard’ on leadership, during this pandemic? Just a yes or no,” Karl said. A simple question.

But she refused to give an answer, “Jon, the president, the president, well, it doesn’t always have to be a yes or no answer. I think the president is focused on his goal, his objective as president of the United States.”

They can’t even provide a simple answer or even just say well, if it’s true, then those are actions we would condemn. She refuses to even say that. At least she didn’t say “Well, I’ll circle back on that one.” They really are terrible at providing any answers at all to anything. That may be partly why some of the media seems to be losing patience with them and starting to press them on things.

Psaki got blasted for her evasion including by Megyn Kelly and Janice Dean, whose husband’s parents died in a NY nursing home from the virus last April.

SHAMEFUL @PressSec, SHAMEFUL! https://t.co/blAHxD1q5d

— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) February 21, 2021

Biden called Cuomo's coronavirus handling the "gold standard" & gave him a primetime slot at the DNC to contrast him with Trump, so it's not surprising that Psaki is unable to condemn sending coronavirus-infected patients into nursing homes & trying to cover up the consequences. https://t.co/OZgGYx9sG0

— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2021

Shame. On. Her. @PressSec https://t.co/3dqSuQnNQR

— Janice Dean (@JaniceDean) February 21, 2021

Psaki projects total fear in every exchange. Her meekness is maddening. So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised she lacks the courage to do as even the Dem AG of NYS has done and call Cuomo’s lie a lie. https://t.co/3DruBl88bD

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 21, 2021

Biden’s press secretary repeatedly refuses to condemn Andrew Cuomo’s actions that led to the deaths of thousands of elderly New York nursing home residents. pic.twitter.com/0VPApRtUV2

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) February 21, 2021