US disease chief Dr Anthony Fauci calls White House attempts to discredit him 'bizarre' and 'nonsense'

America’s leading infectious disease expert has described recent efforts by Donald Trump’s administration to discredit him as "bizarre" and “nonsense".

Dr Anthony Fauci said that the attacks from the president’s team “doesn’t do anything but reflect poorly on them”.

The Trump administration had issued a statement expressing concern “about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things.”

It provided a list of comments made by Dr Fauci, including him saying in January that the virus was “not a major threat”.

Top doctor Anthony Fauci, flanked by US President Donald Trump
AFP via Getty Images

Dr Fauci, in an interview with The Atlantic on Wednesday, said of the efforts to discredit him: ”Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that."

The White House statement attacking Dr Fauci also criticised him for what it said was conflicting advice on face coverings and remarks the severity of coronavirus.

Responding to the criticism, Dr Fauci told The Atlantic that targeting him was "completely wrong".

"I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that," he said.

"I think they realise now that that was not a prudent thing to do, because it's only reflecting negatively on them," he added.

Mr Trump last week accused Dr Fauci of making mistakes and said he disagreed with his assertion that the US was still “knee-deep in the first wave”.

But on Wednesday the president insisted he had a "good relationship" with him.

"We're all in the same team including Dr Fauci," he said.

"We want to get rid of this mess that China sent us, so everybody's working on the same line and we're doing very well."