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Trump Administration, Taking Cues From Fox News, Maps Out Funding Cuts to World Health Organization

President has echoed the conservative right in blaming the global health authority for his own administration’s shortcomings over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The White House is taking cues from Fox News and conservative lawmakers as it sets forth a possible plan to cut U.S. aid to the World Health Organization over its initial fumbling on the COVID-19 pandemic. Fox News host Tucker Carlson and some Republican lawmakers have lambasted the multinational group, claiming it has “links” to China and purposefully delayed identifying the novel coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic. Trump has echoed many of those claims in his daily coronavirus briefing, saying he would put funding to the group “on hold” because the WHO “got it wrong” at the start. WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to Trump’s threats Wednesday. “The focus of all political parties should be to save their people,” he said. “Please don’t politicize this virus. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”