WATCH: Anthony Fauci sneaks in a slam of Trump during MSNBC interview

Infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Friday suggested it was "not a good thing" for President Donald Trump to downplay the threat of COVID-19.

During an interview on MSNBC, Fauci was asked about a new recording from journalist Bob Woodward, in which Trump admitted he was downplaying the novel coronavirus outbreak despite knowing that it was "deadly stuff."

"You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in with Woodward in February. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus."

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, did not directly address Trump's comments. But he did say that he had "some disagreements" with what comes out of White House.

"I can't have any explanation for the conversations between the author of the book, Bob Woodward, and the president. So, I mean, I can't comment more on that, except to say, yes, when you downplay something that's really a threat, that is not a good thing," he added.

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