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According to Fox News, President Trump reportedly alluded to the idea that The World Health Organization would no longer receive funding from the United States, due to its mishandling of the coronavirus crisis, and allegedly helping China cover up the severity of the pandemic.
Trump tweeted, “The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”
The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2020
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted, “The WHO owes an explanation to the world of why they took China’s word for it. So much suffering has been caused by the mishandling of information and lack of accountability by the Chinese.”
This was posted by the WHO on January 14th. The WHO owes an explanation to the world of why they took China’s word for it. So much suffering has been caused by the mishandling of information and lack of accountability by the Chinese. https://t.co/SooEnEPsjJ
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 3, 2020
According to Fox News, the United States is the largest contributor to the WHO, with a whopping $500 million in 2017. The WHO’s total budget for 2016 and 2017 combined was over $4 billion.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director, has been heavily criticized in the media.
After Trump imposed a travel ban from China, Tedros responded saying it would “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.”
Tedros tweeted, “[f]or the first time, #China has reported no domestic #COVID19 cases yesterday. This is an amazing achievement, which gives us all reassurance that the #coronavirus can be beaten.”
Senator Martha McSally said, “I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down. We need to take some action to address this issue. It’s just irresponsible, it’s unconscionable what they have done here while we have people dying across the globe.”
Senator Rick Scott said, “When it comes to Coronavirus, the WHO failed. They need to be held accountable for their role in promoting misinformation and helping Communist China cover up a global pandemic.”
“We know Communist China is lying about how many cases and deaths they have, what they knew and when they knew it – and the WHO never bothered to investigate further.”
More from Fox News:
With the U.S. is its primary source of funding, lawmakers are increasingly questioning an organization they see as reflexively siding with China — the U.S.’ geopolitical rival.
Last month, a resolution introduced in the House and Senate called on WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to retract what they called “highly misleading statements of support for the response of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.”
— Advertisement — Tedros has become much of the focus of criticism by lawmakers. The director panned coronavirus responses that “unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade,” after Trump imposed a travel ban on China in the early days of the crisis.
