'Stop this nonsense': Dr Fauci hits back at Trump administration attacks amid rising coronavirus cases across US

Top infectious disease expert hits back after release of ‘opposition research’ from White House

Dr Anthony Fauci, one of America’s top infectious disease experts and leading member of the government’s coronavirus task force, has hit back at attacks by Trump administration officials over his handling of the pandemic.

“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,” he told The Atlantic.

His comments come in response to a barrage of criticism of his work on the pandemic from the White House, amid signs that the relationship between him and Donald Trump has soured in recent months.

Dr Fauci recently revealed that he has not briefed the president in the past two months, even as coronavirus cases surge across the country.

One such attack came in the form of a list of bullet points forwarded to journalists by the White House of apparent mistakes made by Dr Fauci, which CNN said “resembled opposition research on a political opponent”.

Others came from deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino also posted an anti-Fauci cartoon on his Facebook page, and from Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, who published an op-ed in USA Today on Tuesday in which he wrote that Dr Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on”.

Dr Fauci said in the interview published on Wednesday that the rising number of coronavirus cases across the United States required immediate attention and focus from the White House.

“When you look at the numbers, obviously, we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to almost reset this and say, ‘Okay, let’s stop this nonsense.’ We’ve got to figure out, How can we get our control over this now, and, looking forward, how can we make sure that next month, we don’t have another example of California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona? So rather than these games people are playing, let’s focus on that,” he said.

“Well, that is a bit bizarre.,” he said of the attempts to discredit him. “And I have to tell you, I think if I sit here and just shrug my shoulders and say, ‘Well, you know, that’s life in the fast lane’.”

When asked whether he had considered resigning in response to the attacks against him, Dr Fauci said: “No. I think the problem is too important for me to get into those kinds of thoughts and discussions. I just want to do my job. I’m really good at it. I think I can contribute. And I’m going to keep doing it.”

Before departing for a trip to Atlanta on Wednesday, Mr Trump was asked about the recent tensions with Dr Fauci.

“We’re all on the same team, including Dr Fauci. I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci. And we’re all on the same team. We want to get rid of this mess that China sent us.”

When asked about Mr Navarro’s op-ed targeting the top expert, Mr Trump said: “Well, he made a statement representing himself. He shouldn’t be doing that. No, I have a very good relationship with Anthony.”

The White House was forced to deny sending campaign-style opposition research to reporters on Monday.

“There is no opposition research being dumped to reporters,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, contending that the emails were sent from White House press aides to The Washington Post in response to a “straightforward question.”

Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, tweeted on Wednesday that the piece by Mr Navarro “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes and is the opinion of Peter alone”.

The public row comes as coronavirus cases continue to surge across the United States. More than 3.4 million Americans have been infected with the virus and at least 136,800 have died.