Pence: WHO Will Face 'Tough Questions' For Mishandling COVID-19 Epidemic
Vice President has harsh words for World Health Organization
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Vice President Mike Pence said the US would ask "tough questions" of the World Health Organization (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pence's remarks come after the agency's director warned President Donald Trump and other world leaders against "politicizing" the outbreak.
Speaking with "Hannity" Wednesday night, Pence said:
"This is a president who believes in accountability, and the American taxpayers provide tens of millions of dollars to the World Health Organization."
"And as the president said yesterday, I suspect we will continue to do that, but that doesn't mean that at the right time in the future we aren't going to ask the tough questions about how the World Health Organization could have been so wrong."
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"Literally at the time President Trump stood up the coronavirus task force in January and suspended all travel from China, just days before that, the World Health Organization was continuing to diminish the threat of the coronavirus and its impact in China," Pence added.
"We'll get to the answers of that, and we'll create accountability, just like the American people would want us to do."
On Tuesday, President Trump floated the idea of cutting funding for the World Health Organization for supporting China's Propaganda.
Trump tweeted:
“The W.H.O. blew it. 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?”
Here’s how pro-China station Phoenix TV got into the White House coronavirus press briefing
— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) April 8, 2020
READ MORE: https://t.co/SGME12zySj
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WHO Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded saying:
“If you don’t want many more body bags, you refrain from politicizing it – please quarantine politicizing COVID."
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is facing calls to resign from American politicians and others around the world over criticism that his organization failed to respond appropriately to the coronavirus.
Pence noted, "evidence of the beginning of a stabilization" of the outbreak in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Louisiana.
But the Vice President added that "we need every American to continue to do their part," which will "will hasten the day that we put the coronavirus in the past."
"But it's going to take all of us to do it, and the good news is ... all evidence suggests that the American people are doing just that."
"They know our future is in our hands, and as we put the president's coronavirus guidelines into practice, we'll get there ... [and] we will continue to save lives, and we will reach that day much sooner than people thought in the beginning of this outbreak."
