Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth defended President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response on Friday, stating he has been taking it seriously “from the beginning.”

The claim from the Fox host and loyal Trump supporter comes as the president has faced media criticism for downplaying the coronavirus, but nonetheless enjoyed rising poll numbers for his response.

“You cannot say that the president has not taken this seriously from the beginning,” Hegseth said on Fox News show Outnumbered.

Hegseth continued by defending Trump, who downplayed the severity of the virus at the outset, pointing out that others were equally skeptical of its danger: “I saw, my friend Brian Kilmeade sent me an audio clip of Dr. [Anthony] Fauci in mid-January even then saying, we don’t know how bad or how big this will be. There were a lot of people at that time, wondering how big could this become.”

Hegseth continued that while he is not a fan of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, “you can trust the metrics from this country,” while China’s numbers are dubious.

“You cannot trust a word China has said about what they have reported on the number of cases, deaths, illnesses,” he said.

Trump has come under fire for not only downplaying the crisis in his public comments, but also failing to take serious action to curb the spread of the coronavirus since it ravaged China in January.

New York Time columnist David Leonhardt has chronicled Trump’s continual downplaying of the coronavirus beginning in late January when it began rapidly spreading in the United States.

“I’ve reviewed all of his public statements and actions on coronavirus over the last two months,” Leonhardt wrote in a scathing and thorough op-ed, “and they show a president who put almost no priority on public health. Trump’s priorities were different: Making the virus sound like a minor nuisance. Exaggerating his administration’s response. Blaming foreigners and, anachronistically, the Obama administration. Claiming incorrectly that the situation was improving. Trying to cheer up stock market investors.”

Watch above, via Fox News.

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