Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it’s “bizarre” and a “little weird” that former White House economic adviser Peter Navarro keeps going on Fox News to attack him. In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Fauci expressed disbelief that Navarro had dubbed him a “sociopath,” a “liar”and “the father of the actual virus” in an interview earlier in the week. “Peter Navarro saying I created the virus. I mean, how bizarre is that?...I mean, is that a little weird? I mean, come on,” he said.

At another point in the interview, after being asked about other right-wing attacks against him, Fauci appeared to restrain himself, saying, “I don’t know how to answer that without sounding hostile.” “I’ve become sort of, for some reason or other, a symbol to [conservatives] of what they don’t like about anything that has to do with things that are contrary to them, anything outside of their own realm,” he said, adding that he “can’t be bothered with getting distracted” by false comments. “I am so busy trying to do some important things to preserve the health and the safety of the American people.”