This morning Trump adviser Peter Navarro excoriated Dr. Fauci in an op-ed, saying he’s been wrong about everything:
FOX NEWS – White House trade adviser Peter Navarro tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci in a stunning op-ed on Wednesday, saying the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, who has been a leading voice on the Coronavirus Task Force, has been “wrong about everything.”
“Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,” Navarro wrote in a blistering op-ed for USA Today.
Navarro began by saying that Fauci “fought against” Trump’s “courageous decision” in late January to suspend flights from China as the novel coronavirus began to spread, arguing that that decision “might well have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives.”
He continued: “When I warned in late January in a memo of a possibly deadly pandemic, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was telling our news media not to worry.”
Further, he wrote that in February, “Fauci was telling the public the China virus was low risk.” Navarro went on to complain Fauci was “flip-flopping on the use of masks.”
He dinged Fauci for downplaying falling mortality rates, amid the debate over whether businesses should be allowed to reopen or stay shuttered. Navarro added: “So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice my answer is: only with skepticism and caution.”
Not long after the op-ed came out, the White House put out a tweet pushing back on it and saying the op-ed does not represent the White House:
The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone. @realDonaldTrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) July 15, 2020
Ouch! An official rebuke from the White House has to sting a little.
Since then President Trump, who reportedly hasn’t spoken to Dr. Fauci in over a month and whose White House is said to have been keeping him away from the media, was asked about it and stood by him:
WATCH: @realDonaldTrump defended his relationship with @NIH's Dr. Anthony #Fauci after White House trade adviser @PeterNavarro45 claimed Fauci has been wrong on numerous occasions during the coronavirus pandemic in a scathing op-edhttps://t.co/c6LRigPVO7 pic.twitter.com/fuxhe6k2Hw
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 15, 2020
President Trump said Wednesday that he has a “very good relationship” with Dr. Anthony Fauci, just hours after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro published a blistering op-ed criticizing the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his projections on the coronavirus pandemic.
“I get along very well with Dr. Fauci,” Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office. “I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci.”
“Well that’s Peter Navarro.” Clearly Trump doesn’t want to have anything to do with Navarro’s op-ed.