President Trump considers cutting funding to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, there’s a staff shakeup in the administration. Finally, Trump considers the fate of the Tiger King. Here’s everything that happened in the past week in the Trump White House.
On Tuesday, April 7th, President Trump criticized the World Health Organization for their handling of the coronavirus outbreak, threatening to withhold U.S. aid.
“The W.H.O. really blew it,” Trump tweeted. “For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”
According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the U.S. contributed more than $400 million to the WHO in 2019, 10 times more than China.
Next, some major staffing shakeups happened this week in the Trump administration.
Trump fired Michael Atkinson from his post as the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community. Atkinson came to be known for his central role in Trump’s impeachment inquiry, as he handled the Ukraine whistleblower complaint in the middle of 2019.
Also, Stephanie Grisham left her post as White House press secretary to join the First Lady’s press office, while being replaced by the Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
Finally, President Trump weighed in on the legal fate of Tiger King Joe Exotic.
When a reporter asked Trump if he would consider a presidential pardon for Joe Exotic at the joking suggestion of his son, Don Jr., the president said, “I know nothing about it. He has 22 years for what, what did he do? Are you recommending a pardon? I’ll take a look.”
