White House doubles down on WHO funding cutoff, details coronavirus ‘mismanagement’
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Newly-installed White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday doubled down on the administration’s decision to cut off funding for the World Health Organization in a series of tweets accusing the WHO of “mismanagement” related to coronavirus.
McEnany, in what appeared to be her first official duties in her new post, delivered a point-by-point breakdown on President Trump’s decision to withhold funding for the WHO.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GLOBAL BATTLE ERUPTS AS TRUMP PULLS WHO FUNDING
“The WHO repeatedly covered up for China and parroted the Chinese government’s claims that there was no human-to-human transmission,” McEnany tweeted.
“On December 31st, Taiwan warned the WHO about signs of human-to-human transmission, but the WHO didn’t make it public,” she wrote, citing a report in the Financial Times. “On January 9th, the WHO repeated China’s claim that the virus ‘does not transmit readily between people’ and made the disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McEnany went on to say the WHO on Jan. 14 “again repeated China’s talking points that there was ‘no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,’ despite the fact that doctors in Wuhan had warned otherwise.”
Reports suggest that senior WHO officials suspected human-to-human transmission from the outset.
“On January 22nd, the WHO Director General praised China yet again for its ‘leadership and intervention,’" she continued. “On January 23rd, the WHO found that the impending pandemic didn’t represent a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She added: “Even on February 29th, when the coronavirus was spreading around the world, the WHO continued to put political correctness first by opposing life-saving travel restrictions.”
McEnany’s tweets come after the president announced Tuesday that the United States would immediately halt funding for the health organization, saying it had put “political correctness over lifesaving measures,” noting that the U.S. would undertake a 60- to 90-day investigation into why the “China-centric” WHO had caused “so much death” by “severely mismanaging and covering up” the coronavirus spread.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S. and a key member of Trump's coronavirus task force, has said misinformation from China, repeated by the WHO, had affected U.S. response efforts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The United States is the WHO's largest single donor, and the State Department had previously planned to provide the agency $893 million in the current two-year funding period. Trump said the United States contributes roughly $400 million to $500 million per year to WHO, while China offers only about $40 million. The money saved will go to areas that "most need it," Trump asserted.
Kayleigh McEnany
PELOSI VOWS TO CHALLENGE TRUMP'S DECISION TO CUT OFF WHO FUNDING
The move prompted widespread criticism from Democrats on Capitol Hill and international bodies like the European Union.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., vowed Wednesday to “swiftly” challenge the action amid the coronavirus crisis.
“This is another case, as I have said, of the president’s ineffective response, that ‘a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others,’” Pelosi said Wednesday.
“This decision is dangerous, illegal and will be swiftly challenged,” Pelosi said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And some House Democrats are even raising the possibility that the president is breaking the law with the move.
“In a desperate attempt to deflect blame, President Trump is violating the same spending laws that brought about his impeachment,” Evan Hollander, a spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement to Politico on Wednesday.
“The president does not have the unilateral authority to withhold the United States’ assessed contribution to the World Health Organization,” he told the outlet. “Moreover, refusing to fund the WHO is a foolish step that only weakens international tools to fight this pandemic and future global health emergencies.“
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hollander was referring to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) legal opinion released in January that said Trump broke the law by withholding defense aid to Ukraine – which was at the center of his impeachment inquiry.
The GAO argued that those funds were appropriated by Congress and therefore the administration did not have the right to hold it back just because it disagreed with its allocation.
House Democrats are now suggesting the same legal opinion applies to WHO funding.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A senior administration official told Politico, though, that they "believe that pursuant to the appropriation, we have broad discretion to spend that money."
Meanwhile, the European Union early Wednesday said Trump had “no reason” to freeze funding to WHO, especially at this critical stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and urged measures to instead promote unity.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the 27-nation bloc "deeply" regrets the suspension of funds and added that the U.N. health agency is now "needed more than ever" to combat the pandemic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has faced calls to resign from his post amid the controversy, issued a statement slamming the president’s move.
"We regret the decision by president of U.S. to order hold on funding to WHO ... any withdrawal of U.S. funding ... we will work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face and make sure work continues uninterrupted.”
He added: “But for now our focus is on stopping this virus.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As of Wednesday, the number of positive COVID-19 cases surpassed 2 million.
The U.S. reported more than 610,000 cases with more than 26,000 deaths.