U.S. lawmakers blast Trump’s decision to formally withdraw WHO

Washington, United States | XINHUA | U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to officially quit the World Health Organization (WHO) has sparked outrage among U.S. lawmakers, raising concerns over the ongoing global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic and incoherent doesn’t do it justice. This won’t protect American lives or interests — it leaves Americans sick and America alone,” Senator Robert Menendez, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday on Twitter.

By withdrawing from the WHO, Trump has further abdicated U.S. global leadership, Congressman Ami Bera, who represents California’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, lamented on Twitter.

“His go-it-alone approach puts America’s health and security at risk,” he said Wednesday. Bera, a physician, also told local media that the United States and the WHO had worked “hand in hand” to eradicate smallpox and nearly defeat polio.

“If the WHO is to blame: why has the U.S. been left behind while many countries from South Korea to New Zealand to Vietnam to Germany return to normal?” he said.

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