Dr. Fauci Blasts ‘Totally Wrong’ and ‘Bizarre’ Attempts By White House to Discredit Him: ‘It Hurts the President’

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force member and longtime infectious disease expert, spoke out about the White House’s attempts to discredit him, telling the Atlantic in a new interview that those efforts hurt President Donald Trump.

After being asked for his thoughts on the “White House’s claim that you made inaccurate statements about the pandemic,” Fauci responded, “I stand by everything I said. Contextually, at the time I said it, it was absolutely true.”

Fauci called the claims “totally wrong,” adding, “It’s nonsense. It’s completely wrong. The whole thing is wrong. The whole thing is incorrect.”

He went on to claim that he doesn’t know why the White House sought to discredit him, calling it “a bit bizarre,” before saying, “I think if you talk to reasonable people in the White House, they realize that was a major mistake on their part, because it doesn’t do anything but reflect poorly on them. And I don’t think that that was their intention.”

“I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that. I think they realize now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it’s only reflecting negatively on them,” Fauci continued, revealing he told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Monday “that that was not particularly a good thing to do.”

“Did Meadows offer an explanation or an apology?” The Atlantic asked.

“No,” Fauci said. “There was no apology. He said that he didn’t know about it.”

“Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that. When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president. And I don’t really want to hurt the president. But that’s what’s happening,” Fauci declared. “I told him I thought it was a big mistake. That doesn’t serve any good purpose for what we’re trying to do.”

Despite the bizarre friction, Fauci said he has no plans to quit.

The White House sent out a statement to journalists over the weekend in an effort to discredit Fauci, listing instances he had supposedly been wrong, while Trump adviser Peter Navarro wrote an op-ed criticizing the doctor just days later.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino also joined in on the attack against Fauci, blasting him in a Facebook post that accused the doctor of sinking the U.S. economy.

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro joined in as well, claiming in a widely-panned op-ed that Fauci is wrong about “everything.” The White House and Trump dismissed Navarro’s op-ed as a “rogue” operation.

“I can’t explain Peter Navarro,” Fauci told The Atlantic. “He’s in a world by himself. So I don’t even want to go there.”

On Monday, President Trump insisted he has a “good relationship” with Fauci and finds him “to be a very nice person.”

Nonetheless, it has been reported that the president has been stopping the NIAID director from appearing for television appearances. When asked whether his interviews had been cut back, Fauci replied: “I can’t make a comment on that, but I think you know what the answer to that is.”