Peter Navarro blasts Fauci in op-ed

Matthew Choi
·2 min read

Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump‘s top trade adviser, blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday, claiming that the nation’s top infectious disease expert and the public face of the White House‘s coronavirus response has been consistently wrong while advising on how to contain the disease.

In a brief op-ed published in USA Today, Navarro said: “Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.“

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

Navarro said Fauci pushed back on a travel ban on foreign citizens coming from China and repeatedly changed his mind on the wearing of masks in public. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had initially advised against wearing masks in public unless sick or caring for the sick, before later advising all members of the public to wear face coverings.

Navarro‘s op-ed was a particularly overt rebuke from a member of an administration that has shown signs of growing discontent with Fauci. Fauci, meanwhile, has strong support among the public and lawmakers from both parties.

Trump has criticized Fauci — a career health official who has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 — when he offers advice that goes against the president’s political or economic agenda. He called Fauci‘s concern with a swift reopening of the economy in May “surprising“ and “unacceptable,” and pushed back on Fauci‘s caution toward reopening schools.

Trump retweeted messages on Monday lambasting his own public health officials as misleading the public about keeping schools closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“Everyone is lying,” said one of the tweets, written by the conservative former game show personality Chuck Woolery. “The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it’s all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.”

Those remarks were followed by condemnation from Adm. Brett Giroir, the administration's coronavirus testing czar, who defended public health experts.

“Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie,” Giroir said. “We are completely transparent with the American people.”