Sen. McSally Calls For Director of WHO to Step Down

U.S. Sen. Martha McSally is calling on the head of the World Health Organization to resign amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

The Arizona Republican accused Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of helping China “cover up its mishandling of the coronavirus crisis for months, while thousands die globally.”

“I’ve never trusted a communist,” McSally told Fox Business. [China’s] cover up of this virus that originated with them has caused unnecessary deaths around America and the world … They need to come clean.” 

McSally stated WHO needs to stop covering for China, and Dr. Tedros needs to step down.

McSally’s statements come at a time when President Donald Trump remains under fire for belittling the significance of the pandemic and for not doing enough to prepare for its spread in the U.S. He has repeatedly referred to the disease as the “Chinese virus” despite the WHO’s recommendations against attaching an ethnicity of location to the name of a virus.

McSally, a staunch supporter of President Trump, stated the U.S. needs to increase its manufacturing to lessen reliance on Chinese products. She also said China should forgive the trillions of dollars the U.S. owes it in debt. 

McSally’s comments came after U.S. intelligence officials allegedly submitted a report to the White House accusing China of underreporting its total coronavirus cases and deaths, according to Bloomberg. 

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, however, pushed back Thursday against the U.S. report, accusing America of shifting the blame for its own high numbers. U.S. politicians have said China’s allegedly inaccurate numbers caused medical professionals in the U.S. and elsewhere to underestimate the disease.

After the virus broke out in China’s Wuhan province in January, the country has reported a total of about 82,000 cases, with numbers reportedly dramatically slowing in the past few weeks. As of Thursday, the U.S. had nearly 239,000 cases.