USA Today now says Navarro's Fauci op-ed 'did not meet' fact-checking standards

USA Today has issued a statement regarding an op-ed published by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying several of the criticisms were "misleading or lacked context."

The statement by Bill Sternberg, the newspaper's editorial page editor, also says Navarro's opinion essay "did not meet USA Today's fact-checking standards." 

The Navarro op-ed followed by the Sternberg's statement follows as similar situation last month in which The New York Times published an essay by Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton in support of President Trump wanting to use the military to help control the George Floyd protests that in some cities had become destructive and violent.

After a staff uproar, the Times said the editing process for Cotton’s “Send In the Troops” essay was "rushed" and "did not meet our standards."

In Navarros's op-ed, he says that Fauci – an infectious disease expert and member of the White House coronavirus task force – has "a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."

White House officials have said Navarro's views are his own and that the op-ed had not passed through the usual White House channels of approval prior to publishing. 

President Trump continues to support Dr. Fauci, who was in attendance at a coronavirus task force meeting earlier this week. 

"We're all on one team," Trump said after the op-ed was posted online Tuesday.

Sternberg also suggested the Navarro submission was accepted in an effort to present an opposing view to a pro-Fauci editorial that the paper had recently published.

"We felt it was newsworthy because it expanded on those comments, put an on-the-record name to the attacks on Fauci, and contradicted White House denials of an anti-Fauci campaign," Sternberg wrote.