President Trump threatened to withdraw from the World Health Organization and permanently cut off all funding to the group in a letter Monday to its director-general.
The president posted the 4-page letter to his Twitter feed with the declaration that it’s “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
After a lengthy recounting of missteps and kowtows to China that the WHO had made in its handling the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Trump gave Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus 30 days to shape up and make fundamental reforms.
If not, he writes, “it is my duty as President of the United States … I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent.”
He also said that under such circumstances, the U.S. will “reconsider our membership in the organization.”
“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,” he concluded.
One of Mr. Trump’s conditions, he stated in his conclusion, is that the WHO “actually demonstrate independence from China.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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