Asymptomatic spread is not a lie. Perhaps a better term would be pre-symptomatic spread. Covid, just like the flu, does a lot of its spreading before symptoms appear.
Whether masks are helpful in preventing this spread is a different questions. But since the cost of wearing a mask was basically nothing, I wore one until the CDC advice did not require me to wear one.
Masks is something I always thought was a bizarre hill to die on.
My understanding is that there is not one scientific study which shows asymptomatic spread is real. The only studies about spread are talking about how droplets carry the virus to new hosts.
Fauchi saying the masks were pointless during this time summarizes all scientific research at that point in time on the topic.
And the idea that a mask would stop this aerosol spread is even more preposterous as indicated by fauchis response.