Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said early Tuesday that he had not misled Americans “under any circumstances” after President Trump suggested that he had.
Asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” about Trump retweeting a post claiming Fauci has “misled the American public on many issues,” Fauci responded: “’I have not been misleading the American public under any circumstances.”
Trump has also called Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist,” but both men have said their relationship remains “very good.”
“I don’t tweet. I don’t even read them, so I don’t really want to go there,” Fauci said Tuesday. “I just will continue to do my job no matter what comes out, because I think it’s very important.”
“I’m just going to certainly continue doing my job. We’re in the middle of a crisis with regard to an epidemic, a pandemic, this is what I do, this is what I’ve been trained for my entire professional life, and I’ll continue to do it,” he added.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro earlier this month authored a USA Today op-ed attacking Fauci and his record. The White House said Navarro did so without authorization, with the president telling Fox News’s Chris Wallace the top aide “shouldn’t be doing that.”
Navarro on Monday told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade he had no regrets about publishing the op-ed, saying “the only thing I regret is Dr. Fauci’s pitch the other day at Opening Day. I felt bad for him.”