President Trump suggests that China intentionally allowed COVID-19 to spread around the globe after they made a 'horrible mistake' - as US intelligence officials say Beijing downplayed the virus while they hoarded medical supplies

President Donald Trump suggested that the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe is the result of a 'horrible mistake' made by China. 

The president continued to point the finger at China on Sunday during a Fox News virtual town hall meeting at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. where he said China sparked the outbreak and tried to cover it up. 

When asked if there was enough evidence to prove China misled the global community over the virus, the president said there was.

'Well, I don’t think there’s any question about it. We wanted to go in, they didn’t want us to go in. Things are coming out that are pretty compelling. I don’t think there’s any question,' Trump said Sunday.

'Personally, I think they made a horrible mistake, and they didn’t want to admit it,' he added.

His comments come as a Department of Homeland Security report shared on Sunday revealed US officials believe China 'intentionally concealed the severity' of the pandemic in early January and hoarded medical supplies.

President Donald Trump said Sunday he believes the coronavirus outbreak is the result of a 'horrible mistake' made by China during Fox's televised town hall meeting on Sunday

'Personally, I think they made a horrible mistake, and they didn’t want to admit it...like a fire…They couldn’t put out the fire,' the president said

The four-page report dated May 1 that was obtained by the Associated Press notes that China downplayed the virus publicly but increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies. 

The document accuses China of covering their tracks by 'denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data.'

In Sunday's virtual town hall, Trump said that China failed to admit their mistake in refusing to accept global aid. 

'We wanted to go in, but they didn’t want us there. Even World Health wanted to go in - they were admitted but much later, not immediately. They made a mistake, they tried to cover it, like a fire…They couldn’t put out the fire,' Trump said. 

He condemned the Communist nation for not alerting global leaders on the severity of the outbreak while continuing to allow flights to exit China.  

'What they really treated the world badly on, they stopped people from going into China but they didn't stop people from going into the USA and all the rest of the world.' 

'They knew they had a problem, I think they were embarrassed by the problem,' Trump added.

When asked about President Xi Jinping, Trump said 'I’m not going to say anything' but 'this should never have happened'.

Trump said that the federal government is putting together a 'strong' report on the origin of COVID-19 that has infected over a million in the US and killed over 68,000, adding it will be 'very conclusive'.  

Last week Trump told reporters that he had seen proof that suggests the virus originated in the lab, but he did not go into detail.  

Earlier on Sunday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that 'a significant amount of evidence' suggested the virus came from the Wuhan lab.

'I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan. These are not the first time that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab,' Pompeo said on ABC’s This Week. 

The US intelligence community said it believes that COVID-19 was not 'manmade or genetically modified' but was investigating whether it was caused by 'an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan'.

However, Chinese officials and scientists have denied that there is any connection between the outbreak and the Institute of Virology in Wuhan that studies infectious diseases including coronavirus. 

Experts believe the virus started spreading as early as February in the United States before it forced states to issue lockdown directives for millions of Americans beginning in mid-March. 

Last week, Trump claimed that he had seen evidence that coronavirus started in the Wuhan virology laboratory and warned he could impose tariffs of $1trillion on China in retribution for the pandemic. 

'Yes I have. Yes I have,' Trump said when asked if he had seen proof the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Technology. 

The lab is located near a wet market that has been identified as the likely epicenter of the outbreak that took place late last year. 

However, the president would not divulge what the evidence was that confirmed his suspicions, when asked by a reporter.

'I can't tell you that. I am not allowed to tell you that,' he responded.

On Sunday Trump blamed US intelligence officials for failing to warn the country about the severity of the virus tweeting: 'Intelligence has just reported to me that I was correct, and that they did NOT bring up the CoronaVirus subject matter until late into January, just prior to my banning China from the U.S. Also, they only spoke of the Virus in a very non-threatening, or matter of fact, manner...'