Washington (CNN) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "should not try to hide behind an excuse" in response to the suggestion from both the President and the Kentucky Republican that impeachment distracted the US government from the growing coronavirus crisis.

"I think that's an admission that perhaps the President and the majority leader cannot handle the job," Pelosi told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an interview.

"We have a life and death situation in our country and they should not try to hide behind an excuse for why they did not take action, but it does admit that they did not take action," Pelosi said, adding, "Right now we have to work together to get the job done."

In an interview on Tuesday with radio host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell said that the crisis "came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything, every day was all about impeachment."

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Trump echoed that argument, saying that impeachment "probably did" distract him from responding to the coronavirus outbreak.

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