Former Vice President Al Gore Albert (Al) Arnold GoreCruz says Senate Republicans likely have votes to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee 4 inconclusive Electoral College results that challenged our democracy Fox's Napolitano: 2000 election will look like 'child's play' compared to 2020 legal battles MORE criticized President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's handling of the coronavirus pandemic on Monday night, saying that he misled the public with his early comments on the virus.

"I’m afraid many [Americans] have been misled into thinking that some of his earlier statements about using the word hoax — and he used it in a specialized way — but saying it was going to disappear, those kinds of things. I feel badly for those who believe that stuff and have not been protecting themselves,” Gore told CNN's Don Lemon Don Carlton LemonCNN's Lemon: 'We're going to have to blow up the entire system' if Democrats win back White House, Senate Scaramucci to Lemon: Trump 'doubling down' on downplaying virus 'should scare' viewers Cohen: Trump is serious when he mentions staying for more than two terms MORE.

Continuing, Gore added: “Now, I think the president — to his credit — has been moving away from that. I think he’s learned that you can’t gaslight a virus. You’ve really got to pay attention to what the scientific facts are.”

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Trump's tone regarding the coronavirus, which has infected more than 164,000 people in the U.S., has markedly changed since he declared the pandemic a national health emergency.

Since then, the administration called on the country to social distance for 15 days — an order that was extended to the end of April on Monday — and Trump signed into law Congress's $2 trillion stimulus package in an attempt to invigorate the country's flailing economy.

Numerous states around the country have issued stay-at-home orders and have begun to prosecute individuals and businesses who blatantly ignore the measure.