频遭白宫官员“抹黑”，福奇：此举最终伤害的是总统
据美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学的最新数据，美国国内新冠肺炎确诊病例已超过340万，死亡病例超过13.7万。
新冠疫情的“阴霾”仍在持续，白宫官方却将应对疫情不力的“锅”甩给了素有“抗疫队长”之称的顶尖传染病学专家安东尼·福奇（Anthony Fauci）。多位白宫官员向福奇“开炮”，指责其在疫情暴发期间屡屡做出误判。
“白宫为何要这样？”
7月15日，福奇在接受《大西洋月刊》采访时表示，白宫官员近期对他的攻击“匪夷所思”又“毫无意义”。
福奇称虽然不明白白宫方面为什么会这么做，但他认为这种做法最终只会伤害总统特朗普的利益。在采访中，福奇也呼吁“各方共同努力聚焦疫情，而不是耍这种分散注意力的把戏”。
After days of attacks from Trump aides, U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Wednesday called the White House effort to discredit him "bizarre" and urged an end to the divisiveness over the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying "let's stop this nonsense" and focus on the virus.
"I cannot figure out in my wildest dreams why they would want to do that," Fauci said when asked about the stepped-up attacks, in an interview with The Atlantic on Wednesday, "Ultimately, it hurts the president to do that."
被频频攻击的福奇
自新冠疫情在美国暴发以来，白宫方面和福奇就常常意见相左，最近更是频频攻击福奇，试图转嫁责任。
美媒近日曝光了一份白宫文件，上面罗列了福奇各种所谓的“罪状”，包括他今年1月说新冠病毒“对美国民众不构成重大威胁”、“无症状感染者不太可能传播病毒”，以及3月说“戴口罩对抗击新冠病毒作用不大”等。
白宫贸易顾问彼得·纳瓦罗（Peter Navarro）7月14日在《今日美国》上还发表了一篇题为《安东尼·福奇在我与他互动的所有事情上都错了》的专栏文章，猛批福奇。
另一名白宫顾问丹·斯加维诺（Dan Scavino）则在社交媒体上分享了一幅讽刺漫画，将福奇（Fauci）比作“水龙头”（Faucet），暗示“福奇的防疫措施将会把美国经济冲进下水道”。
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump's top trade advisor, Peter Navarro, described Fauci as "wrong about everything" in an op-ed article in USA Today. Dan Scavino, another Trump's close adviser, posted on Facebook a rendering that likened him to a faucet drowning Uncle Sam.
对于这些批评指责，福奇在接受《大西洋月刊》采访时表示“我坚持我所说的一切。在当时的情况下，我说的话绝对是真的……”
《大西洋月刊》特派记者彼得·尼古拉斯（Peter Nicholas）认为，抹黑福奇并削弱他的公信力完全是白宫的一种“政治手段”。因为福奇关于疫情的各种言论向民众揭露了特朗普政府抗疫不力、未能有效遏制疫情的真相。
Responding to the criticism, Fauci told the Atlantic: "I stand by everything I said. Contextually, at the time I said it, it was absolutely true …"
The attempt to discredit Fauci's public health expertise is a political move, Peter Nicholas, a staff writer at The Atlantic, said. Fauci is "a recurring reminder" that the pandemic still remains an enduring threat as Trump wants people to believe the virus is being brought under control.
特朗普澄清：“我们好着呢！”
由于应对疫情不力，特朗普的民调支持率持续走低。相比之下，美国民众更愿意相信福奇的种种防疫建议。关于是否“重启经济”，两人也存在着尖锐的矛盾。特朗普一再强调美国疫情已得到控制，急需恢复经济生产秩序；福奇则认为美国疫情依旧严峻，遏制疫情蔓延仍是“重中之重”。
在接受采访时，福奇表示已经两个月没有直接向特朗普做过疫情简报了。他的所有建议都需先上报给副总统彭斯，经由彭斯之手转呈给特朗普。
然而7月15日，特朗普却出面为两人的紧张关系“降温”，声称自己“和福奇关系很好。”
With the decline of Trump's popularity in opinion polls over his handling of the outbreak, the views of Fauci have led to clashes with the president, whose attempt to reopen the economy badly hit by the virus. In the view of Fauci, the top priority should be controlling the spread of the virus.
Fauci said he had not briefed Trump in two months and his advice was passed onto Trump indirectly, via Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force.
All the while, the president asserted on Wednesday that there is no "concerted effort" to attack Fauci and he has a "good relationship" with the immunologist.