USA TODAY OpinionVerified account

We've added the following editor's note to the Peter Navarro Opposing View: Tuesday evening online and Wednesday morning in print, we published an Our View editorial that praised Dr. Anthony Fauci as a “national treasure” and sharply criticized recent White House efforts

to undermine or sideline him. As is our longstanding tradition, to give our readers another point of view, we reached out to White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has been critical of Fauci. Navarro provided a response that was published as an Opposing View paired with

our editorial. We dealt directly with Navarro and do not know if he spoke to anyone else at the White House about his statement. Navarro’s response echoed comments made to other news outlets in recent days. We felt it was newsworthy because it expanded on those comments, put an

on-the-record name to the attacks on Fauci, and contradicted White House denials of an anti-Fauci campaign. However, several of Navarro’s criticisms of Fauci – on the China travel ban, the risk from the coronavirus, and falling mortality rates -- were misleading or lacked

context. As such, Navarro’s op-ed did not meet USA TODAY’s fact-checking standards. -- Bill Sternberg, USA TODAY editorial page editor