A screenshot taken from usatoday.com on July 15, 2020 shows part of the op-ed published by USA Today on Tuesday, in which U.S. presidential adviser Peter Navarro (the picture) scathingly criticized Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, for his handling of the pandemic. (Xinhua)

"So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci's advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution," Navarro writes at the end of the short piece.

WASHINGTON, July 15  -- The White House on Wednesday tried to distance itself from presidential adviser Peter Navarro, who had criticized the nation's top infectious disease expert in a recent newspaper article.

In an op-ed published in USA Today on Tuesday, Navarro scathingly criticized Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, for his handling of the pandemic.

Navarro wrote that Fauci "has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."

"So when you ask me whether I listen to Dr. Fauci's advice, my answer is: only with skepticism and caution," Navarro wrote at the end of the short piece.