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Trump Tells WHO: Reform In 30 Days Or Forfeit US Funding

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the World Health Organization (WHO) Monday night, telling the United Nations organization to reform within “the next 30 days” or lose U.S. funding.

Trump put a screenshot of the message on his Twitter account, saying, “This is the letter sent to Dr. Tedros [Adhanom Ghebreyesus] of the World Health Organization. It is self-explanatory!”

“I cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America’s interests,” the letter says.
Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization, (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Photo by Naohiko Hatta - Pool/Getty Images)

Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization, (L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, on January 28, 2020 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Naohiko Hatta – Pool/Getty Images)

Trump froze U.S. funding to the organization, which is part of the United Nations, in mid-April. (RELATED: Communist Party Of China Sends Out Official Missive On US Coronavirus ‘Lies’)

Trump writes that “if the World Health Organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership in the organization.”

The president said that his administration is already in discussions with WHO on “how to reform the organization “but action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste.” China is widely believed to have groomed Tedros for the top job at WHO and assisted his getting it.

A Friday report on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” indicated that Trump had decided to resume funding of WHO, but at the same level that China currently contributes. But that was only one option that the president was assessing, as he indicated in a Twitter reply to Fox Business News host Lou Dobbs on Saturday.

“The World Health Organization has repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading,” Trump notes in the letter, specifically mentioning early claims that the virus was not transmittable from human to human. His letter goes through a variety of issues that have led to criticism of WHO throughout the coronavirus pandemic. (RELATED: Top WHO Official Won Election With China’s Help. Now He’s Running Interference For China On Coronavirus)

“Throughout this crisis, the World Health Organization has been curiously insistent on praising China for its alleged ‘transparency,’” Trump insists. “You have consistently joined in these tributes, notwithstanding that China has been anything but transparent.”

US President Donald Trump (2nd R) speaks to China's President Xi Jinping (L) in front of US First Lady Melania Trump (2nd L) and Xi's wife Peng Liyuan (R) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017. Donald Trump urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to work hard and act fast to help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis during talks in Beijing Thursday, warning that "time is quickly running out". (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump (2nd R) speaks to China’s President Xi Jinping (L) in front of US First Lady Melania Trump (2nd L) and Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan (R) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017.
(Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

“Even now China continues to undermine the International Health Regulations by refusing to share accurate and timely data, viral samples and isolates, and by withholding vital information about the virus and its origins,” the president continued. “China continues to deny international access to their scientists and relevant facilities, all while casting blame widely and recklessly and censoring its own experts.”