Monday, May 18, 2020

Trump threatens to permanently cut off WHO funding, withdraw U.S. membership

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President Donald Trump threatened to permanently cut off U.S. funding of the World Health Organization, in a letter dated Monday that he shared on Twitter.

Trump said that if the WHO "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."

Last month, Trump halted U.S. funding for the WHO as his administration conducted a review of the agency's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It's not immediately clear how Trump would withhold those funds, much of which are appropriated by Congress. The president typically does not have the authority to unilaterally redirect congressional funding.

In the Monday letter, the president said the review "confirmed many of the serious concerns I raised last month." It also outlines what the White House perceived as "repeated missteps" by the organization and its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

— CNBC's Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Noah Higgins- Dunn contributed to this report.

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