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May 5, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – On Monday the Trump administration defended its decision to suspend taxpayer support to the embattled World Health Organization (WHO), arguing that other recipients can put the money to better use.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced a temporary suspension of the more than $400 million the United States sends the WHO every year, pending a review of its “role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

“So far the [U.S.] has used the WHO as an implementing partner around the world for about $40 million of our assistance,” a senior State Department official told Breitbart News. “So what the president saw was that WHO was not being an accountable, transparent partner, and as such it’s really important for us to make sure when you do foreign assistance that you always look at who is the best partner in order to get the job done.”

The official went on to note that the United States gives “$18-20 billion worth of health and humanitarian assistance nearly every year,” of which the WHO’s portion is relatively small, and could easily be redirected to any number of other non-government organizations (NGOs).

“We are absolutely committed to making sure every dollar is well spent and well accounted for, and that’s what we’re continuing to do every day with our COVID resources and all the rest of our global health and humanitarian assistance resources,” the official assured Breitbart.

“The United States continues to be the undisputed leader in foreign assistance,” declared James Richardson, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources at the State Department, and is currently responsible for “49 percent of all government and multilateral assistance” in response to COVID-19.

Critics have faulted the pro-abortion organization for, among other offenses, opposing bans on travel from China that could have limited the reach of COVID-19, and for legitimizing the false claims coming out of the Chinese government that initially downplayed the gravity of the situation and covered up the Communist regime’s mishandling of it.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously suggested that the future of the United States’ relationship with the WHO will depend on whether the organization earns back the public’s trust.

“If the institution works and functions, the United States will always lead and be part of it,” he said. “When it’s not delivering, when in fact it’s failing to get the outcomes that are desired, we’re going to work with partners around the world to deliver a structure, a form, a governance model, that will actually deliver on the intended purposes.”

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