An array of liberal groups have gone on the air in recent weeks with spots hammering Trump over his response to coronavirus. Priorities USA, a leading outside group, is spending over $6 million targeting the president. It has been joined by other liberal organizations, including the pro-Biden Unite the Country super PAC.

The Priorities USA spot runs past clips of Trump appearing to downplay the virus while a graph depicts the mounting number of cases in the United States.

Reelection campaign and White House aides, and other Trump allies, became infuriated at the lack of a response from America First Action. Frustration toward the group, which is shared at the White House, has long simmered among Trump aides who view the group as too passive and insufficiently funded. Many of them have expressed a desire for the type of aggressive and agile super PAC that played a key role in Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection win.

With the pandemic dominating the election, the cash-flush Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have chosen to preserve their resources for now.

With America First Action on the sidelines, several senior Republicans in recent days began discussing forming an alternative pro-Trump outside group aimed at defending the president and going after Biden.

People close to America First Action had expressed reluctance about going on the air this early, believing that doing so now would be a waste of money. With Americans focused on the pandemic and Trump dominating headlines with his daily news conferences, they saw little reason to wage an offensive.

But on Tuesday, the group decided to forge ahead with an advertising blitz. Those familiar with the deliberations said America First Action, which has been polling for several weeks, had long eyed March 31 as a key decision date for the group’s activities and viewed mid-April as a possible time to go on the air.