Donald Trump has shared a conspiracy theory that doctors are lying about the coronavirus pandemic to prevent him from being re-elected in the 2020 election.
The US President retweeted a post by game show host Chuck Woolery claiming "everyone is lying" about COVID-19, which has so far infected 12 million people and killed 575,000 around the world.
"The most outrageous lies are the ones about COVID-19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, media, Democrats, our doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust," Woolery tweeted.
"I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it."
Trump retweeted the post to his 80 million followers on Monday, the Independent reported.
But that afternoon, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump's comments.
She said Trump does have confidence in the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) but his intent was to express his displeasure with "rogue individuals leaking guidelines prematurely".
"The notion of the tweet was to point out the fact that, when we use science, we have to use it in a way that is not political.
"When you had 1,300 health experts sign a letter not to condemn large crowds of protesters, but some same health experts say churches need to stay shut down, or lockdown protests somehow don’t get the same First Amendment rights as the protest that we saw on our streets, we need to use science, lean into science, but not use it and cherry-pick it to fit whatever particular political persuasion is."
This comes after the White House recently discredited infectious disease expert and White House COVID-19 task force member Dr Anthony Fauci.
Fauci has recently criticised the Republican government's handling of the pandemic.
He disputed Trump's assertion that the US is "doing great" saying he wouldn't be surprised if the US was soon adding 100,000 new cases a day and says some states are opening too quickly.
A White House official told NBC News on Sunday that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things".
On Thursday, press secretary McEnany declined to say whether Trump still has confidence in Fauci, and on the same day Trump said: "He's made a lot of mistakes."
In a recently deleted Facebook post, Daniel Scavino Jr, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, shared a cartoon targeting Dr Fauci.
"Sorry, Dr Faucet! At least you know if I'm going to disagree with a colleague, such as yourself, it's done publicly — and not cowardly, behind journalists with leaks," the post said.
