White House trade adviser Peter Navarro goes rogue, targets Dr. Fauci in op-ed

Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro lashed into Dr. Anthony Fauci in a USA Today ope-ed, in which he wrote that the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has been "wrong about everything" regarding the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on," Navarro wrote.

He criticized Fauci for fighting against the president's "courageous decision" to suspend flights from China in January, "which might well have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives."

He then went after the NIAID director for opting not to emphasize the falling mortality rate of the virus, as states decide whether businesses should be allowed to reopen. "When you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution," he wrote.

Navarro's op-ed was not approved by the White House, and Fox News reported that a White House official said Navarro is "going rogue."

The opinion essay Tuesday comes amid rumors of a growing rift between Fauci and the White House.

Administration officials are purportedly concerned with the number of times Fauci's instincts have proven incorrect during the pandemic.

Last week, President Trump said he enjoys a "very good relationship" with Fauci, though he doesn't "always agree with him."

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany recently said “Dr. Fauci is one member of a team, but rest assured his viewpoint is represented and the information gets to the president through the task force.”

Axios recently reported that the White House sent opposition research on Dr. Fauci to a number of media outlets, citing a number of instances where Fauci has been "wrong on things" during the pandemic. 

McEnany responded to that report by saying, "To the notion that there's opposition research and that there's Fauci versus the president couldn't be further from the truth. Dr. Fauci and the president have always had a very good working relationship."