Calls escalate for WHO to be defunded over China ties, coronavirus response

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Trump weighs freezing funding to WHO over accusations of pro-China bias

The U.S. has contributed over $900 million to the World Health Organization over the past two years; Kristin Fisher reports from the White House.

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More Republican lawmakers are joining the push for the World Health Organization to be defunded over its kid-gloves treatment of China in the initial days of the coronavirus response -- as the White House openly considers taking the dramatic step.

President Trump hinted in a tweet early Tuesday that he was looking at defunding the agency, saying they “blew it” in their response to the coronavirus crisis.

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“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?” he asked.

He then declared at the press briefing later in the day: “We’re going to put a hold on the money sent to the WHO.”

Trump, however, backtracked when questioned on that statement by members of the media, saying he was “going to look into” cutting off funding to the WHO and denying his earlier statement.

The WHO has increasingly been the focus of questions about its response to the coronavirus pandemic, including information it tweeted in January that quoted “preliminary” findings from Chinese authorities that downplayed the seriousness of the virus that has since turned into a pandemic, shutting down daily life around the globe.

Other statements, including an apparent criticism of Trump’s ban on travel from China and other pro-China statements, have brought renewed questions about the U.S. funding of the agency.

The United States is the single largest contributor to the WHO. The most recent invoice from the WHO to the United States, which is one of many countries that fund the organization, was for nearly $116 million per year. The United States also voluntarily gives between approximately $100 million and $400 million more per year to the WHO for specific projects -- contributions that totaled over $400 million in 2017, the most recent year for which figures are available.

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But while Trump has not yet fully committed to defunding, it appears that if he does, he will have the backing of a number of top lawmakers from within his own party. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that in “the next appropriations bill, there's not going to be any money for the WHO.”

"I'm not going to support funding the WHO under its current leadership. They've been deceptive. They've been slow and they've been Chinese apologists," Graham said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum."

"I don't think they're a good investment, under the current leadership, for the United States. And until they change their behavior and get new leadership, I think it's in America's best interests to withhold funding because they have failed miserably when it comes to the coronavirus and did the same thing in 2015."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who has previously called for a review of WHO funding, renewed those calls on Tuesday.

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“The Chinese Communist Party used the WHO to mislead the world,” Rubio said in a statement. “The organization’s leadership is either complicit or dangerously incompetent. I will work with the Trump administration to ensure the WHO is independent and has not been compromised by the CCP before we continue our current funding.”

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has called for an investigation and hearing into the WHO, questioning whether it is deserving of American taxpayer money.

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"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," Scott said last week. "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."

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Other lawmakers have focused their ire on WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. A resolution in the House and Senate have called on him to retract what they called “highly misleading statements of support for the response of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.”

Tedros tweeted praise for China on March 20, saying: "[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."

Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., called for the director to resign and for WHO to "stop covering for [China.]

“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," she said on Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria."

If defunded, it would mark the latest United Nations organization to take a financial hit from the Trump administration. In 2018, the administration defunded the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency.

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It also defunded the U.N.’s educational, scientific and cultural organization UNESCO over concerns about the agency’s anti-Israel bias.

Fox News' Tyler Olson and Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.