Linda Chavez accused Vice President Mike Pence of being a “sycophant,” saying that he needed to spend less of his time “praising the president.”

Chavez, who participated Sunday in a panel discussion on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said that the vice president should be focused on the coronavirus response rather than “patting the administration on the back.”

WATCH:

Guest host Brianna Keilar began the segment with a video clip of President Donald Trump from January, when he said that he was not worried about the possibility of a pandemic. “It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control,” Trump said at the time.

“I wonder what you think about having an accurate assessment and what that means for leadership in a time like this,” Keilar prompted, turning the question to Chavez. (RELATED: ‘Chairman Schiff Caused Himself A Lot Of Problems’: CNN Guest Criticizes Grandstanding Democrats)

“I think the biggest problem that Donald Trump has right now is that he does not have credibility with the American people. And the reason he doesn’t have credibility is because he says things that are simply not true,” Chavez replied. “Every time he gets on television I think we get more worried.”

Chavez went on to say that she preferred to hear from the experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been front-and-center in the federal government’s response to the continued spread of the virus, before taking aim at the vice president.

“Even Mike Pence, if he would spend less time being a sycophant and praising the president and patting the administration on the back and more time doing the necessary work of talking about what the response is, we would all be better off,” Chavez concluded. “But the fact that you cannot trust the words that come out of this president’s mouth is a real crisis.”