<p>In the piece, titled, "Anthony Fauci has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on," Navarro blamed Fauci for opposing some travel restrictions; backing the widespread use of face masks after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-mask-advice-was-because-doctors-shortages-from-the-start-2020-6" target="_blank">initially</a> urging people to save them for medical professionals; opposing the use of hydroxychloroquine — the <a href="https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-fda-malaria-twitter-covid-19/" target="_blank">unproven</a> anti-malarial medication Trump touted as a "miracle" cure — to treat COVID-19; and <a href="https://www.axios.com/fauci-coronavirus-death-rate-c763343d-15d2-4bef-bd7f-38109926c229.html" target="_blank">advising</a> the public that a declining death rate from the virus should not encourage "false complacency."</p><script id="3d14008d7e044c36b256c61ff82728bb">
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</script><p>"So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci's advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution," Navarro wrote.</p><p>On Wednesday morning, White House strategic communications director Alyssa Farah claimed Navarro had not received approval from the administration before publishing his piece in <em>USA Today</em>.</p><p>"The Peter Navarro op-ed didn't go through normal White House clearance process and is the opinion of Peter alone," Farah <a href="https://twitter.com/Alyssafarah/status/1283377019183603720" target="_blank">tweeted</a>, adding that Trump "values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his Administration."</p><div class="inarticle_ad_placeholder" data-aa-adunit="/5931858/NatMemo_RM/NatMemo_Middle_Desktop_2" data-aaad="true"></div><p>Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1283214689435103233?s=20" target="_blank">called</a> Navarro's piece "an outright and full blown Antiscience disinformation campaign."</p><p>But while the Trump administration has disclaimed this latest attack, it has launched several other attempts to discredit Fauci in recent weeks using many of the same arguments as Navarro.</p><p>On Monday, a White House staffer <a href="https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-anthony-fauci-coronavirus-blame-white-house-pandemic-covid-19/" target="_blank">sent</a> a long list of Fauci's "wrong" prior comments to the<em> </em><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/11/fauci-trump-coronavirus/" target="_blank"><em>Washington Post</em></a>, including statements Fauci had made based on the limited information about the novel coronavirus available in the early days of the pandemic.</p><p>Last Thursday, Trump <a href="https://factba.se/transcript/donald-trump-interview-hannity-fox-news-july-9-2020" target="_blank">told</a> Fox News, "Dr. Fauci is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes, like, you don't have to ban them coming in from very infected China. I did it anyway, and we saved hundreds of thousands of lives." Nonpartisan fact-checkers have <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/trumps-snowballing-china-travel-claim/" target="_blank">debunked</a> Trump's frequent claim that his January partial freeze on travel from China had had that impact.</p><p>Last Tuesday, Trump said, "I disagree with him. Dr. Fauci said don't wear masks and now he says wear them. And he said numerous things. 'Don't close off China.'"</p><p>Navarro had previously <a href="https://americanindependent.com/peter-navarro-coronavirus-anthony-fauci-economist-donald-trump-cnn-covid-19/" target="_blank">attacked</a> Fauci's credibility about hydroxychloroquine, telling CNN in April that, as social scientist with a doctorate who "understand[s] how to read statistical studies," he was just as qualified to discuss medicine as the nation's top epidemiologist.</p><p>Recent polls have shown that Americans <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/upshot/coronavirus-americans-trust-experts.html" target="_blank">trust Fauci</a> far more than they do <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/broad-disapproval-trumps-handling-coronavirus-race-relations-poll/story?id=71704889" target="_blank">Trump</a> for accurate information about the pandemic.</p><p>Fauci is not the only public health expert Trump has sought to undermine in recent days.</p><p>On Monday, he <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1282630838845345794" target="_blank">retweeted</a> a <a href="https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-chuck-woolery-cdc-coronavirus-2020-election-twitter-covid-19/" target="_blank">baseless claim</a> made by a fellow former television game show host alleging that the "CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors" are "lying" about COVID-19 to prevent an economic recovery that would help Trump get reelected.</p><div class="inarticle_ad_placeholder" data-aa-adunit="/5931858/NatMemo_RM/NatMemo_Middle_Desktop_3" data-aaad="true"></div><p><em>Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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