White House seeks to discredit Fauci amid coronavirus surge

The White House on Sunday declined to provide further comment about Fauci. White House spokesman Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday declined to say whether Trump still has confidence in Fauci. Fauci did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday.

The White House official’s remark questioning Fauci was first reported by The Washington Post.

The attempt to discredit Fauci comes amid signs of growing tensions between Fauci and the president. Fauci said last week he hadn’t seen Trump in person since June 2 and hadn’t briefed him in person in at least two months. Trump told Gray Television’s Greta Van Susteren last week that Fauci has made mistakes and added, “I disagree with him.”

Another member of the coronavirus task force, Admiral Brett Giroir, added to the Fauci pile-on today when he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Fauci has not always been correct.

“I respect Dr. Fauci a lot, but Dr. Fauci is not 100 percent right and he also doesn’t necessarily, he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind. He looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view,” Giroir said.

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Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/12/white-house-seeks-to-discredit-dr-anthony-fauci-as-coronavirus-surges.html