The White House said the op-ed was trade adviser Peter Navarro’s opinion “alone,” but it and President Donald Trump did not disavow its content.
In a remarkable broadside against Fauci, who polls show the American public broadly trusts for information on the novel coronavirus, Navarro wrote in the op-ed for USA TODAY Tuesday that “Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”
Navarro, who has no known medical expertise, went on to contrast his own response to the coronavirus pandemic with misleading characterizations of Fauci’s own comments on the virus. A portion of what he wrote was also included as a statement from him in a Washington Post article published Saturday.
“So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution,” Navarro wrote.
Top White House adviser: Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on https://t.co/zjrEPUZmek
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 15, 2020
Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro openly attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci in an op-ed on Tuesday, after the White House repeatedly insisted there has been no effort to undermine the nation's leading infectious disease expert. https://t.co/q70sbPUqDz
— CNN (@CNN) July 15, 2020