Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, told the Fox News Channel on Friday that his critics were being “mischievous” for pointing out that he wore a mask while throwing out the first pitch at the Washington Nationals-New York City Yankees game but then took it off as he watched from the stands.

JOHN ROBERTS: There’s a photo of you sitting in the stands with two people. You’re not wearing a mask, you’re not social distancing. We should point out that one of those people is your wife. What about the other person?

ANTHONY FAUCI: The other person is a very close friend of mine. I think this is sort of mischievous with this thing going around. I had my mask around my chin, I had taken it down, I was totally dehydrated and I was drinking water trying to rehydrate myself. And by the way, I was negative COVID literally the day before. So I guess if people want to make a thing of that. I wear a mask all the time when I’m outside. To pull it down to take some sips of water and put it back up again, I guess if people want to make something about that, they can. But to me, I think that’s just mischievous.