Sen. Cruz: ‘World Health Organization Can No Longer Be Trusted’

HOUSTON, Texas - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Trump administration's decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization:

"The World Health Organization can no longer be trusted. It had an obligation to warn the world about the coronavirus. Instead, the organization helped the Chinese Communist Party cover it up, allowing the outbreak in Wuhan to become a global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 500,000 people worldwide and put millions more lives at risk."

Sen. Cruz has repeatedly raised concerns about the Chinese Communist Party's influence over the World Health Organization. He has called for a reevaluation of the WHO, including its leadership, saying in part: "By consistently bending to the Chinese Communist Party, from downplaying the severity of the [coronavirus] to systematically excluding Taiwan, [the organization] has lost the credibility necessary to be effective."

In January, Sen. Cruz condemned WHO's decision to exclude Taiwan - under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party - against the background of the coronavirus pandemic and urged WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to grant Taiwan observer status at meetings and gatherings.

In April, Sen. Cruz called on the United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres to convene an independent panel of experts to conduct a review of the WHO's response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the Secretary General, Sen. Cruz and his Senate colleagues wrote, "the WHO appears to have shown remarkable deference to the Chinese government throughout this pandemic."

Sen. Cruz also released a video highlighting the role of the Chinese Communist Party in silencing medical experts who tried to warn the world about this dangerous disease, using the World Health Organization - whose own mission is to "disseminate public health information of international significance" - to parrot Chinese propaganda, and allowing the initial outbreak in Wuhan to become a global pandemic.

WATCH: How Chinese Censorship Led to a Global Pandemic

WATCH: Sen. Cruz Vows to Hold Chinese Officials Involved in Coronavirus Coverup Accountable

ICYMI: Sen. Cruz Leads Calls for Fundamental Reassessment of U.S.-China Relationship

###