Trump Puts WHO on Notice, Threatens Permanent Funding Freeze
Updated
U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter today and published his letter to Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus. He wrote, “This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory!”
This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory! pic.twitter.com/pF2kzPUpDv
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2020
The President made headlines last month, teasing that the U.S. would withdraw funding from the World Health Organization (WHO) because they’ve “been wrong about a lot of things,” according to Trump’s speech in early April. He later made good on his claim on April 14 by temporarily suspending funding to the organization, pending an investigation on their failed response to the COVID-19 outbreak.Â
Today’s White House letter to the WHO opens by claiming its review confirmed many of the serious concerns Trump raised last month and identified others that the WHO should have addressed. Trump’s letter pegs the WHO for its “alarming lack of independence from the People’s Republic of China.”Â
Among the several points outlined in the letter, the focus was on the WHO’s lack of action and international alarm despite early warnings about the virus outbreak from several sources within China and Taiwan. The timeline of concerns chronicled by the White House document also lists the inaccurate and misleading statements made by the WHO including its parroting of early Chinese propaganda that the coronavirus could not be transmitted between humans and that the virus did not pose a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The WHO also praised the Chinese government for its “transparency,” announcing that China had set a “new standard for outbreak control” yet failing to mention its Chinese systemic silencing and punishing of several doctors, journalists, and Chinese institutions from speaking out or publishing information about the virus.Â
Despite the dissatisfaction by Trump and the White House about China’s authoritarian information control mechanisms, the U.S., in lockstep with Big Tech, has applied nearly identical censorship methods to citizens who speak out. Facebook and YouTube have been busy silencing the U.S. medical community while they attempt to give accurate and evidenced-based accounts of virus characteristics, treatments, and protocol outcomes. Will Trump act on information censorship within U.S. borders?Â
Trump’s letter concluded by warning the WHO that if it did not commit to “substantive improvements in the next 30 days”, he would permanently withdraw funding from the organization and “reconsider our membership in the organization.”