Trump aides have worked to undermine the expertise and advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s leading authority on infectious disease, because they view him as a threat to Trump’s public image, according to reports in both The New York Times and The Washington Post.

The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci has had a lower public profile in recent weeks as the Trump administration and Trump himself has contradicted and dismissed Fauci guidance to the American public.

Fauci “is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes,” Trump told Fox “News” host Sean Hannity in an interview Thursday.

According to the Times, aides have even resorted to sending journalists lists of, what they claim, are false and inaccurate statements made by Fauci:

For example, White House officials pointed to a statement by Dr. Fauci in a Feb. 29 interview that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.” But they omitted a warning he delivered right after.

“Right now the risk is still low, but this could change,” he said in the interview, conducted by NBC News. “When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread.”

In the same interview, Dr. Fauci also warned that the coronavirus could become “a major outbreak.”

The US continues to hit new highs in the 7-day running average, but because Trump and campaign officials believe Trump’s reelection depends on the US economy regaining its stability, administration officials have contradicted Fauci’s guidance to take any reopening efforts slowly.

Fauci’s cautious approach to opening businesses now and restarting in-person school classes in the fall has put him at odds of Trump’s goals.  Therefore the thinking goes, to get people to back Trump’s plan, they must subvert Fauci.

Part of the issue has to do with the fact that Fauci is viewed by the public as a more reliable source of information about the coronavirus that Trump–by a large margin.  According to a June poll by the Times, 67% of Americans judged Fauci to be a trusted source, while just 26% say the same of Trump.

Possibly sensing Trump’s jealousy, his administration had limited Fauci’s television appearances in the past months.  That changed, however, after Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan told the audience last weekend that they were unsuccessful at booking Fauci “for months.”

In response, Fauci appeared on three news shows this week.