Gov. Andrew Cuomo believes President Donald Trump is in "denial" about the problem COVID-19 poses.

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On Monday during a COVID-19 briefing, Cuomo called on President Trump to sign an executive order requiring Americans to wear masks in necessary situations to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

"To the President— because if we're going to turn this around in this nation, it's going to take the White House— and to the President, I say today, if you want to help stop COVID-19, then they should start telling the people of this country the truth. And the truth starts with how large a problem this is and how real a threat COVID is," Cuomo said.

The governor also called on the President to lead by example by wearing a mask.

"The President can do two things. First, sign an executive order directing everyone to wear a mask. How we're at this point as a nation and we still haven't done the simple, easy, minimal step of saying you must wear a mask when you're in public? The President doesn't have to pass a piece of legislation, doesn't have to call the Congress, just sign an executive order saying wear a mask," he said. "Then let the President lead by example and let the President put a mask on it because we know it works. We've proven that it works in the State of New York."

On Sunday, Cuomo appeared on NBC's Meet The Press and said Trump and other White House officials are in denial about the COVID-19 problem.

"They're basically in denial about the problem. They don't want to tell the American people the truth and they don't want to have any federal response except supporting the states," Cuomo told Chuck Todd. "In New York we just handled it totally differently, Chuck. We handled it on our own. Communication, clear, as you mentioned, every day. Then, we came up with a plan and did the testing and did the isolation and that makes a difference. This is a virus. It doesn't respond to politics. You can't tweet at it; you have to treat it."

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