On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, denied a report by the New York Times that he was told to not make any statements without clearance by the White House. Fauci also stated that the United States will see more cases of the coronavirus.

Fauci began by stating that what happens in the rest of the world “will ultimately dictate the impact on us. Because you’re seeing a considerable number of cases in multiple countries throughout the world. When that happens, what’s going to happen here is that we will see additional cases, and it’s going to really be the proof of the pudding is how we handle them.”

He added that the U.S. has a pandemic plan for influenza, “and there’s so much ability to extrapolate that right now, that that’s what you hear when we say we have to take a look at parts of that plan, which I would call mitigation. In other words, how do you deal with it when it’s here in the country? And there are a number of ways to do that. And that’s the thing that we’re getting geared up to do.”

Fauci later said about the NYT report, “I’m not being muzzled. Everybody who has — gets on shows like this, you have a normal clearance. I was cleared here. And here I am talking to you, and I’ll give you the whole truth the way I always have.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett