Trump's top aide Dan Scavino shares a cartoon mocking Fauci after White House claims it isn't undermining the coronavirus expert

• Dan Scavino, President Donald Trump's longtime aide and deputy chief of staff for communications, posted a cartoon on his Facebook page on Monday night mocking Dr. Anthony Fauci.
• The cartoon features an image of Fauci as a faucet drowning the US economy with orders of "Shut up and obey!"
• It comes amid the White House's escalating attacks on Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, who's been critical of Trump's coronavirus response.

Dan Scavino, President Donald Trump's longtime aide and deputy chief of staff for communications, posted a cartoon on his Facebook page Monday night mocking Dr. Anthony Fauci.

The post features an image of Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert who's helping lead the federal government's coronavirus response, with a faucet coming out of his nose. The drawing shows Fauci's faucet drowning the US economy with orders of "Schools stay closed this fall!"; "Indefinite lockdown!"; and "Shut up and obey!" in a cascade of "extra-cold" water.

A cartoon of Sen. Rand Paul — who has repeatedly attacked Fauci in congressional hearings — points at Fauci and yells "Shut him off!!"

It comes after the White House sent reporters an anonymous statement over the weekend attacking Fauci and listing what it said were incorrect statements he made earlier this year about the pandemic.

"Sorry, Dr. Faucet!" Scavino wrote alongside the cartoon. "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. See you tomorrow!"

—Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) July 14, 2020

During Monday's White House briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insisted that the White House isn't attempting to undermine Fauci and didn't produce "opposition research" on the public-health expert.

"Why is the White House trashing Dr. Fauci?" CNN's Jim Acosta asked McEnany. "The president has gone off on anonymous sources in the past. Why not have the guts to trash Dr. Fauci with your own names?"

McEnany said, "Dr. Fauci and the president have always had a very good working relationship."

Fauci has been publicly critical of the president's leadership in responding to the coronavirus and has been sidelined by the president.

The public-health expert said last week that Trump hadn't met with him since June 2 and he hadn't been permitted to brief the president in over two months.

Fauci suggested he's being pushed aside and censored by the president and his aides because he's telling difficult truths about the US's out-of-control pandemic.

"I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things," he told the Financial Times. "And that may be one of the reasons why I haven't been on television very much lately."