Governors from both parties pushed back Sunday on against President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE's apparent endorsement of protests against stay-at-home orders and his assertion there is adequate coronavirus testing across the country.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee Jay Robert InsleeBarr asked prosecutors to explore charging Seattle mayor over protest zone: report Bottom line Oregon senator says Trump's blame on 'forest management' for wildfires is 'just a big and devastating lie' MORE (D) said Trump’s tweets calling on protesters to “LIBERATE” numerous states were urging “illegal activity,” saying on ABC’s “This Week” that “to have an American president to encourage people to violate the law, I can’t remember any time in my time in America where we have seen such a thing.”

“It is dangerous because it can inspire people to ignore things that actually can save their lives,” Inslee said.

Washington was an early epicenter of the virus in the U.S. In recent weeks Inslee joined fellow governors Gavin Newsom Gavin NewsomTrump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Evacuations ordered in California desert communities as wildfires burn Wildfire lectures from America's instructor-in-chief MORE (D) of California and Kate Brown (D) of Oregon in a partnership to develop plans to reopen the region. A demonstration at the Washington statehouse in Olympia is planned for Sunday.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) of Maryland criticized the tweets less forcefully, saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” “I don't think it’s helpful to encourage demonstrations, and encourage people to go against the president’s own policy.”

Hogan noted that the calls for immediate reopening contravene Trump's own federal guidelines, which say the process should not begin until cases of the virus have declined in an area for 14 days.

“So then to encourage people to go protest the plans that you just made recommendations on, on Thursday it just doesn't make any sense. We're sending completely conflicting messages out to the governors and to the people as if we should ignore federal policy and federal recommendations,” he said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said the demonstrators had the right to protest, adding that he asked only that they observe social distancing guidelines.

“We’re going to do what we think is right, what I think is right, and that is, try to open this economy, but do it very, very carefully so we don’t get a lot of people killed, but we have to come back, and that’s what we’re aiming to do beginning on May 1,” DeWine said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) also defended her state’s stay-at-home order, one of the country’s most stringent, saying it is already bearing fruit.

“Michigan right now has the third highest death count in the country, we are the 10th largest state, as you can deduce this means we have a uniquely hard issue going on here,” Whitmer said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It is disproportionately hurting our state and that is why we need to take a uniquely aggressive action to protect people.”

“We are seeing the curve start to flatten. And that means we're saving lives,” she added. The protests at the state house in Lansing were among those Trump specifically endorsed.

Vice President Pence did not directly address the tweets when pressed by Fox News’ Chris Wallace Christopher (Chris) WallaceBattle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates Chris Wallace presses Cotton on 'any hypocrisy' between comments on Supreme Court vacancy in 2016 and today MORE, saying of the protests, “What you see, I think, among millions of Americans who have been embracing those social distancing measures and making the sacrifices is they want their governors to find a way to responsibly and safely reopen their state economies."

“The American people know that no one in America wants to reopen this country more than President Donald Trump,” Pence said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Governors also pushed back on the White House’s claim that states have the capacity to conduct all necessary testing, with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) calling such a claim “delusional.”

“It’s not a straightforward test. We don't even have enough swabs believe it or not,” Northam said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Addressing Trump’s tweets, Northam added “Our president has been unable to deliver on tests, now he has chosen to focus on protests, and this is not the time for protests.”

“This is not the time for divisiveness. This is time for leadership that will stand up and provide empathy, that will understand what’s going on in this country of ours with this pandemic, it's the time of truth, and it’s time to bring people together,” he said.

Experts have said adequate testing capacity is necessary to reopen the country, noting repeatedly that without testing it's impossible to get an accurate idea of whether cases are actually decreasing.

Hogan also called the characterization of state testing capacity “absolutely false.”

"To try to push this off and say the governors have plenty of testing and they should just get to work on testing, that somehow we aren’t doing our job, is just absolutely false," Hogan said on “State of the Union,” saying that while Maryland has increased testing capacity 5,000 percent over the last month, it had not yet reached a level where it could safely reopen businesses.

DeWine also said further action from the Food and Drug Administration was necessary, saying the state could “probably double, maybe even triple testing in Ohio virtually overnight” with the extra help.