President Trump Heard Saying 'F---' in Hot Mic Moment Before His Oval Office Coronavirus Speech

President Donald Trump was heard saying “oh, f—” in a hot mic moment on Wednesday night just before he addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the country’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Oh f—,” the president said, apparently without knowing his microphone was already live. “Uh-oh, I’ve got a pen mark.”

According to the audio of the president’s pre-speech interaction with an aide, Trump, 73, had a mark on his clothing and asked for some last-second help getting it out.

A C-SPAN spokesperson tells PEOPLE the audio was the result of an error on the network’s part.

“Wednesday evening, C-SPAN.org patched into the wrong feed from the network pool’s Oval Office production of President Trump’s address to the nation on the coronavirus outbreak and inadvertently included pre- and post-speech video of the president on our website’s livestream,” the spokesperson said.

“We immediately erased this video from our files, but this was clearly a mistake on our part, which we regret.”

Trump’s comment went viral after his rare Oval Office address regarding the coronavirus, during which he announced a 30-day travel ban for non-Americans coming from much of Europe, except the U.K.; requested the Small Business Administration give emergency aid to businesses impacted by the virus; and promised to defer tax payments from those who are facing economic impacts due to the outbreak.

The number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. climbed to more than 1,300 as of Thursday morning. Thirty-eight people have died, most of them in Washington state, which is an epicenter of the outbreak in America.

Worldwide, more than 127,800 cases have been confirmed and 4,718 people have died.

Trump’s response to the coronavirus has faced mounting scrutiny, including his early contradictions with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when he downplayed the urgency of the virus as health officials warned Americans to prepare for the virus’ spread.

The coronavirus tests supplied by the federal government have faced multiple issues as well — including initial errors with the test results, lack of widespread availability and bureaucratic obstacles. Experts say this has so far drastically undercut the ability to understand the scope of the virus in America.

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now. That is a failing. Let’s admit it,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a congressional hearing on Thursday.

“The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that,” Fauci said. “Do I think we should be? Yes. But we’re not.”

That same day, however, Trump told reporters, “Frankly, the testing has been going very smooth. If you go to the right agency, if you go to the right area, you get the test.”

The president has made a number of false or misleading statements regarding the coronavirus.

“It seems like the chickens have finally come home to roost with [Trump’s] misinformation because it’s one thing to say, ‘Windmills cause cancer,’ it’s one thing to say, ‘Oh there’s a million people at my rally,’ ” The View co-host Meghan McCain, a conservative Trump critic, said on the show Wednesday, referencing other false or misleading comments he’s made.

“It’s an entirely different thing to say that this potentially deadly virus, that is globally hitting everywhere, is no problem here,” McCain added. “And I actually think it is one of the few things that could really hit this election in an interesting way.”