President Trump blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci's coronavirus response in a Tuesday tweet, saying that the doctor's "pitching arm is far more accurate than his prognostications."
The state of play: The president's criticism comes after Fauci balked over the weekend at a clip of him being used in a Trump campaign ad touting the president's actions during the pandemic.
- The ad features a clip of Fauci saying, "I can't imagine that ... anybody could be doing any more." The campaign edited the clip to make it appear as if Fauci was talking about Trump. Fauci said that he made the comments months ago and was speaking broadly about the efforts of federal health officials.
- "The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials," Fauci told CNN.
- The Trump campaign said the clip "is from a nationally broadcast television interview in which Dr. Fauci was praising the work of the Trump administration."
The big picture: The Trump administration has faced criticism for silencing Fauci and other top health officials, who have frequently been forced to correct the president's misleading claims about the coronavirus.
Flashback: Trump's tweet mocked Fauci's appearance to throw out the first pitch at Opening Day for the MLB's Washington Nationals in July — and the doctor's pitch was notably off-target.
