White House: No Involvement in Trump Adviser’s Op-ed Bashing Fauci

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies at a Senate hearing regarding the coronavirus in Washington on March 3, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

The White House said on July 15 that officials weren’t involved in vetting an op-ed from a President Donald Trump adviser that criticized U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The article, from trade adviser Peter Navarro, “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone,” Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, said in a statement.

Trump, she added, “values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.”

Navarro wrote in the op-ed, published July 14, that Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”

The doctor, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), opposed Trump’s decision to ban travel from China, Navarro said.

He also repeatedly downplayed the threat of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a virus from China that causes the disease COVID-19, Navarro added, pointing to comments Fauci made throughout January and February.

“When you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution,” Navarro wrote.

Peter Navarro, Director of the White House National Trade Council, at the CPAC convention in National Harbor, Md., on March 1, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

The NIAID didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Criticism of Fauci by White House officials has noticeably increased in recent days.

“I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100 percent right, and he also doesn’t necessarily—he admits that—have the whole national interest in mind,” Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, said July 12.

Navarro issued a shorter statement disparaging Fauci over the weekend and Dan Scavino Jr., another White House official, shared a cartoon depicting Fauci as a spigot turned to cold. Pouring out of the spigot were phrases highlighting how Fauci is pushing against reopening schools and easing harsh lockdowns.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has argued during Senate hearings with Fauci about his advice to the public, is depicted on the side of the sink, calling to “shut him off!!”

President Donald Trump said July 9 that Fauci “is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on July 13 that Fauci’s viewpoint is taken into account, but so are those of other people on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

“Dr. Fauci’s one member of a team, but rest assured, his viewpoint is represented and the information gets to the president through the task force,” she said.