Trump accuses WHO of being ‘pipe organ’ for China

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused the World Health Organization of being a “pipe organ” for China during the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump said China “misled us,” as he referred to investigations the White House asked the US intelligence agencies to conduct into whether China and the WHO covered up what they knew about the early spread of COVID-19.

“They must have known more than they knew,” he told reporters about the UN agency during a meeting with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in the Oval Office.

“We knew things that they didn’t know, and either they didn’t know they didn’t tell us … right now, they’re literally a pipe organ for China, that’s the way I view it,” the president said.

Trump and other world leaders have ripped China for its lack of transparency and for failing to accurately report the number of coronavirus cases after the initial report of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan in December.

Arguing that the US payment to the WHO is about $500 million compared to China’s contribution of around $38 million, Trump said the WHO should have been looking out for the interests of the US and other countries around the world.

Despite the difference in payments, “they seem to work for China, and they should have been in there early on. They should have known what was going on. And they should have been able to stop it,” Trump said.

Earlier this month, Trump froze payments to the WHO until a review could be completed over whether it mismanaged or worked with China to cover up the spread of the virus.

{NY Post} {Vanguard Nig}