US House Committee Chairman on Foreign Affairs Eliot Engel has launched an investigation into President Donald Trump's decision to withhold US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), a letter Engel sent to Secretary Mike Pompeo revealed on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2020) US House Committee Chairman on Foreign Affairs Eliot Engel has launched an investigation into President Donald Trump's decision to withhold US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), a letter Engel sent to Secretary Mike Pompeo revealed on Monday.
"I ask that the Department [of State] produce to the Committee on Foreign Affairs no later than 5:00p.m. on Monday, May 4, 2020, the following: Any and all documents referring, relating to, or referencing the decision to withhold funding from the WHO," Engel said in the letter.
Engel said Trump's decision to stop funding to the WHO during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is counterproductive and puts lives at risk and will undermine the WHO's efforts in the fight against the pandemic.
Engel also said the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been "calamitous" despite early warnings it received about the lethal potential of COVID-19.
Earlier in April, Trump announced that the United States would suspend funding to the WHO, accusing the organization of botching the COVID-19 outbreak response.
The United States has more than 967,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and about 55,000 deaths caused by the disease as of Monday morning, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
