White House says op-ed piece criticizing Fauci was not cleared
WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday tried to distance itself from an attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci by President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser, the latest criticism of the government’s leading infectious disease expert by a prominent administration official.
A short op-ed by Peter Navarro in USA Today on Tuesday, with the stark headline “Anthony Fauci Has Been Wrong About Everything I Have Interacted With Him On,” was not cleared by communications officials before it was published, according to a White House spokeswoman.
“The Peter Navarro oped didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone,” Alyssa Farah, White House director for strategic communications, wrote on Twitter. “@realdonaldtrump values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration.”
But when he called reporters into the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump did not criticize the piece. “That’s Peter Navarro,” Trump said.
Later, before leaving the White House for a trip to Atlanta, Trump added, “We’re all on the same team, including Dr. Fauci.”
The back-and-forth was emblematic of an administration that has taken an uneven approach to efforts by some in the administration to undermine Fauci, whose stark analysis of the coronavirus has clashed with a rosier picture put forth by Trump and his other advisers since the early days of the pandemic. Trump has not criticized his aides for publicly attacking Fauci nor has he called them off.
Earlier this week, officials declined to comment when Dan Scavino, one of the president’s closest advisers, posted a mocking cartoon of Fauci to social media.
And over the weekend, some of Trump’s advisers anonymously fed news outlets with remarks that Fauci had made about the virus earlier this year that they suggested raised questions about his judgment.
Tension between Navarro, an economist by training, and Fauci has been brewing for months. In a coronavirus task force meeting that Navarro asked to attend earlier this year, the two argued over the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump has touted as a cure for the virus.