White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said he has no regrets about his op-ed criticizing Dr. Anthony Fauci.
He told Fox & Friends on Monday that he stands by his USA Today op-ed, which has been disavowed by the White House.
“You know, the only thing I regret is Dr. Fauci’s pitch the other day at opening day. I felt bad for him, but I always looked forward, and we are all part of the team — and he actually tells people to wear the mask, and my job is to get them made,” he said, referring to Fauci throwing the first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ season opener last week.
Navarro’s op-ed, in which he wrote about how the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has been “wrong about everything,” was met with controversy. The White House press office, chief of staff Mark Meadows, and President Trump himself all distanced themselves from the piece. USA Today also later said the op-ed did not meet its “fact-checking standards.”
“The Peter Navarro op-ed didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone,” Alyssa Farah, the White House director of strategic communications, said Wednesday. “[Trump] values the expertise of the medical professionals advising his administration.”
Trump said Navarro “shouldn’t be doing that” in response to the op-ed.
