The White House appears to be distancing itself from a blistering op-ed written by President Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
The op-ed, published Tuesday by USA Today, describes Fauci as having “a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”
The White House communications team did not sign off on the op-ed, a Trump administration official told The Post.
“Navarro went rogue and the White House does not stand by these unauthorized opinions,” the official said.
Citing the doctor’s past positions on the wearing of masks and the use of hydroxychloroquine, as well as his original opposition to closing the US border, Navarro made the case that Fauci lacked credibility due to past errors.
“In late January, when I was making the case on behalf of the president to take down the flights from China, Fauci fought against the president’s courageous decision — which might well have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives,” Navarro wrote in the brief piece.
“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 the news media not to worry,” he continued.
Fauci, who has served as NIAID director since 1984, had sparred with Navarro previously while serving on the White House coronavirus task force.
In April, reports emerged that Navarro and Fauci had come to blows during a meeting in the Situation Room.
While discussing the potential use of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug Trump has touted as potentially helpful in fighting the virus, Navarro stood up and distributed reading materials on what he argued was the “clear therapeutic efficacy” of the drug.
In response, Fauci stressed that there was only anecdotal evidence that the medicine could combat coronavirus.
Fauci’s comment about anecdotal evidence “just set Peter off,” a source told Axios at the time.
Navarro referenced their row in his op-ed, albeit indirectly.
“When Fauci was telling the White House Coronavirus Task Force that there was only anecdotal evidence in support of hydroxychloroquine to fight the virus, I confronted him with scientific studies providing evidence of safety and efficacy. A recent Detroit hospital study showed a 50% reduction in the mortality rate when the medicine is used in early treatment,” he wrote in his piece.
Despite their differences, Fauci has been able to maintain a better relationship with the president.
Trump defended their working relationship Monday while speaking to reporters at the White House, saying they “have a very good relationship.
“I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci, I’ve had for a long time, right from the beginning,” he said.
“I find him to be a very nice person,” the president continued. “I don’t always agree with him — I closed the borders, as you know, to China, I did the ban on China, heavily infected and we saved tens of thousands of lives — and Dr. Fauci will admit that was a good decision,” he said.
White House director of strategic communications Alyssa Farah said on Twitter that the 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.”