White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is sharing whether or not President Joe Biden has called New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) amid pressure for him to step down.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Psaki was asked, “Yesterday, the president said the governor should resign. The governor has not done so. Has the president called the governor?”
“No,” Psaki answered.
Psaki also said she was “not aware” if any White House officials had called the governor or members of his staff.
Finally, she was asked, “If the governor refuses to resign, does the president want to see him impeached and removed from office?”
“The president made clear yesterday that Gov. Cuomo should resign, and I believe we should start with that. There’s obviously a process that’s going to proceed, and leaders in New York spoke to that yesterday. We’ll leave it to them to speak to that. The president believes Gov. Cuomo should do the right thing, resign, and leave space for future leadership in New York,” she said.
Watch the video below:
On whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be impeached if he refuses to resign, White House press sec. Jen Psaki says, “The president believes Gov. Cuomo should do the right thing—resign—and leave space for future leadership in New York.” https://t.co/xWtEUOW409 pic.twitter.com/W147h8TpS3
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 4, 2021
On Tuesday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a bombshell report that found Cuomo “sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments.”
Hours after the report was released, Biden said he believes Cuomo should resign.
However, when he asked if he thought the governor should be impeached, Biden said, “Let’s take one thing at a time here. I think he should resign. I understand that the state legislature may decide to impeach. I don’t know that for a fact, I’ve not read all that data.”
The New York governor is now facing bipartisan calls for his resignation.
He has not been criminally charged and has denied that he acted inappropriately.