Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, hit back on Wednesday at officials within the Trump administration who have been trying to undermine him.
In an interview with The Atlantic, Fauci said it was strange to see the president's loyalists publicly attacking him and other public health experts.
"Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that,” Fauci said. “When the staff lets out something like that and the entire scientific and press community push back on it, it ultimately hurts the president.”
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro on Tuesday night had an op-ed published in USA Today in which he falsely attacked Fauci for supposedly being wrong about everything related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci said that he doesn't understand why people in the White House are out to undermine him, but he said he's trying to take it in stride.
"That is a bit bizarre," he said. "I sit here and just shrug my shoulders and say, 'Well, you know, that’s life in the fast lane.'"
