Newt Gingrich Newton (Newt) Leroy GingrichMORE on Thursday slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiPowell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy Overnight Defense: House to vote on military justice bill spurred by Vanessa Guillén death | Biden courts veterans after Trump's military controversies Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings MORE's (D-Calif.) recent comments about President Trump Donald John TrumpBarr criticizes DOJ in speech declaring all agency power 'is invested in the attorney general' Military leaders asked about using heat ray on protesters outside White House: report Powell warns failure to reach COVID-19 deal could 'scar and damage' economy MORE's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I think Pelosi has become despicable," Gingrich said during an interview on Hugh Hewitt's radio program on Thursday, according to a transcript. "I think that her comment the other day comparing President Trump to Nero fiddling while Rome burned was just utterly, totally irresponsible, dishonest, and counter to what Americans need."

"Americans need to come together to defeat the virus," the former House Speaker added. “They don’t need to have petty politicians trying to tear the country apart, or for that matter, petty newsmen at these press conferences trying to tear the country apart.”

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“We need to figure out how are we going to save American lives, beat the virus, and help the rest of the planet beat the virus, and Nancy Pelosi is an absolute negative figure dragging down the country,” Gingrich also said.

Pelosi on Sunday accused Trump of downplaying the public health crisis in a way that cost American lives, saying that “his denial at the beginning was deadly” on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

"When he made the other day when he was signing the bill, he said just think 20 days ago everything was great. No, everything wasn't great," Pelosi said, referring to the $2 trillion bipartisan relief bill the president signed last week.

"We had nearly 500 cases and 17 deaths already. And in that 20 days because we weren't prepared, we now have 2,000 deaths and 100,000 cases,” Pelosi added.

Trump fired back on Monday during an interview with "Fox & Friends."

“I think it’s a disgrace to her country, her family,” Trump said of Pelosi’s remarks. “What a horrible statement to make.”

“All she did was focus on impeachment. She didn’t focus on anything having to do with pandemics,” Trump said later. “And she lost and she looked like a fool.”