CNN anchor John King said he would not defend the World Health Organization in the face of criticism by President Trump and other Republicans who have condemned its response to the coronavirus pandemic and ties to China.
The president announced on Tuesday the United States would halt monetary contributions to the WHO pending reviews into its management of the pandemic. Trump also accused the WHO of pushing “misinformation” about the virus from Chinese health officials.
King, who appeared on the network following the White House coronavirus task force briefing, acknowledged the president was right to question its actions in the early stages of the pandemic.
“I am not going to defend the World Health Organization. CNN called the coronavirus a pandemic before the World Health Organization,” King said. “It was flat-footed. It did overly trust China, the president is right about that.”
But it wasn’t all compliments for the president, who he noted often spoke highly of Chinese President Xi Jinping over the past few months.
“He repeatedly defended China,” King said. “On the day in late January, he said this would never be a pandemic. He said that was because President Xi was on top of it and he trusted the president of China. … Then he wouldn’t answer a direct question when asked about that by CNN’s Kaitlin Collins and another reporter in the briefing room, he tried to hide from it, saying he was being respectful of China. He said the World Health Organization is responsible for deaths around the world because it cozied up to China. He did the same thing.”
Despite Trump’s praise of China and its leader, his administration took action, in defiance of the WHO’s protests, to place limitations on travel to and from China at the end of January.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, late last year. Beyond the travel restrictions, reports in recent days have said Trump did not act aggressively on warnings about the virus until mid-March. Trump has defended his response, saying “everything we did was right” and has espoused rhetoric calling himself a “wartime president” fighting an “invisible enemy.”
The Trump administration and lawmakers have repeatedly raised questions about whether the WHO was being unduly influenced by Beijing. Last week, the president accused the WHO of being too “China-centric.” He also said the group pushed “misinformation” about the virus from Chinese health officials.
The U.S. is the largest annual contributor to the WHO, accounting for approximately 15% of the organization’s budget with roughly $400 million.
