Vice President Mike Pence in media interviews Sunday refused to condemn Donald Trump Jr. for claiming that Democrats want Americans to die from the coronavirus.

Trump Jr. in a Fox News interview Friday said “for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”

Pence told NBC News’ Chuck Todd after being played the clip: “When you see voices on our side pushing back on outrageous and irresponsible rhetoric on the other side, I think that’s important.”

Democrats have criticized the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus – but some allies of Trump have groundlessly claimed they welcomed the virus.

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Vice President Mike Pence in media interviews Sunday refused to criticize Donald Trump Jr. for claiming that Democrats want Americans to die of the coronavirus to hasten the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Pence is leading the Trump administration’s battle against the coronavirus, or COVID-19, and appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday to field question about the spread of the illness, and the government’s response.

During the interview host Chuck Todd played Pence a clip of Trump Jr. on Fox News on Friday, where he claimed of Democrats that “for them to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump’s streak of winning is a new level of sickness.”

“None of this seems to match the facts. What facts are there that Democrats are doing this?” Todd asked Pence, and challenged him to name Democrats who have made the claim Trump Jr ascribed to them.

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After a brief exchange with Todd, Pence said: “When you see voices on our side pushing back on outrageous and irresponsible rhetoric on the other side, I think that’s important.”

WATCH @DonaldJTrumpJr: For Democrats to hope #Coronavirus comes to the U.S. to end President @realDonaldTrump’s Winning Streak is a ‘New Level of Sickness' pic.twitter.com/DXpuCSr8W0 — Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) February 28, 2020

Pence was also challenged about Trump Jr.’s claim in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday morning.

In the interview, Tapper played Pence the clip of Trump Jr. and twice asked Pence if he rejected the comments.

“He said, seemingly, Democrats want millions of Americans to die of coronavirus,” said Tapper.

“But responding to the kind of things that have been hurled is – is understandable,” replied Pence.

President Trump has also accused Democrats of seeking to use the coronavirus to damage him politically. The president told supporters at a rally in South Carolina Friday that “Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They’re politicizing it,” and went on to describe the illness as “their latest hoax.” In a press conference at the White House Saturday, Trump said that the hoax claim refered not to the virus itself, but to claims about it made by Democrats.

Several leading Democrats have criticised the Trump administration’s response to the illness, but Business Insider has found no evidence of Democrats welcoming it.

Pence, in the interview with Todd, cited an article by columnist Gail Collins in The New York Times, entitled “Let’s call it Trumpvirus” with a standfirst which read, “If you’re feeling awful, you know who to blame,” as evidence that Democrats were using the crisis to damage Trump.

Pence also said the Democrats were the ones seeking to exploit the illness for partisan gain.

“It’s time for the other side to turn down the volume,” Pence said.