Monday on ABC’s “The View,” network political reporter Jonathan Karl said that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) should apologize for claiming that the media “can’t contain their glee & delight” over coronavirus cases in America exceeding China’s official numbers which have been questioned considering China’s authoritarian government.

Rubio tweeted Sunday, “Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China.”

Some in our media can’t contain their glee & delight in reporting that the U.S. has more #CoronaVirus cases than #China Beyond being grotesque,its bad journalism We have NO IDEA how many cases China really has but without any doubt its significantly more than why they admit to — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 29, 2020

Co-host Sunny Hostin asked, “Not only has the president I guess attacked the media. Yesterday, Senator Rubio tweeted that some in our media can’t contain our glee and delight in reporting that the U.S. has more coronavirus cases than China. How do you respond to that tweet coming from a U.S. senator?”

Karl said, “It is outrageous. It is wrong. It is hurtful. I called out Senator Rubio, and I’ll do it again now to say, who are you talking about, Senator? And more importantly, to tell him, Senator Rubio, apologize for that.”

Referring to CBS News producer Maria Mercader and NBC audio technician Larry Edgeworth, Karl said, “That tweet hit just after our friends at CBS News learned that one of their colleagues, one of their co-workers, died from coronavirus. A colleague at NBC died of coronavirus. We have two members of the White House press corps who are now suspected to have coronavirus. Who does Marco Rubio think is taking joy and glee at more people being sick?”

He added, “That’s an outrageous statement. It’s a hurtful statement. It’s the kind of thing I wrote the book about, about the idea of people putting out misinformation intended to further divide us. We’ve got to put a pause on that kind of talk now, especially from somebody like Marco Rubio.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN