White House refuses to address GameStop controversy

The White House is staying out of the GameStop controversy.

Asked about the market volatility during Friday morning's press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki punted on the question and directed reporters to statements by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"They are closely monitoring this situation but it is under their purview at this point of time," Psaki said, declining to speak specifically about the situation.

It came a day after Psaki -- during Thursday's briefing -- also refused to answer directly about the contoversy. The chaos started when a Reddit group called WallStreetBets banded together to squeeze short-sellers out of their positions by buying up stock in video game retailer GameStop and other flailing companies. 

The Reddit group temporarily went private. Trading app Robinhood and online broker Interactive Brokers restricted trading in certain securities because of the recent volatility in a number of stocks, igniting controversy.