White House Economic Adviser Peter Navarro was abruptly pulled from a planned CNN appearance on Wednesday after the publication of an op-ed attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to Wolf Blitzer. After reporter Jim Acosta outlined the ongoing feud between Navarro and Fauci, Blitzer told viewers, “I should point out that Peter Navarro was booked to join me this hour, here in The Situation Room, but earlier this morning, all of a sudden the White House told us he was no longer available.”
“Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on,” Navarro wrote in his op-ed for USA Today, which was published late on Wednesday, adding that his advice on COVID-19 should be met “only with skepticism and caution.”
Later, a White House spokesperson disavowed that “opinion” and President Trump himself said Navarro “shouldn’t” have written it and insisted he has a “very good relationship” with the infectious disease expert. Dr. Fauci called the attacks on him “bizarre,” adding, “I can’t explain Peter Navarro. He’s in a world by himself. So I don’t even want to go there.”
