GOP senators push for congressional probe of WHO over coronavirus

Republican senators are calling for a congressional investigation of the World Health Organization over its handling of COVID-19.

"I think there definitely should be an investigation into the World Health Organization and how they have politicized this process," Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Just the News during an exclusive interview. "I think that getting an investigation started would be the right thing to do."

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has also called for Congress to investigate WHO's actions on coronavirus and its connections to China. Experts have identified Wuhan as the area where the virus originated. 

Scott said Monday on Fox News that Homeland committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also supports investigating WHO.

"We are going to investigate why did they [WHO] do what they did, what was their purpose and then why are we as American taxpayers giving them some of our dollars," he said.

President Trump has criticized WHO's response to coronavirus while China has defended the organization.

"The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric," Trump recently tweeted. "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?"

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-Idaho) also supports an independent investigation of WHO.

"It is completely unacceptable that the world’s global health organization has become a political puppet of the Chinese government," Risch said.

Whether any congressional Democrats support the effort is unclear. None appear to be publicly outspoken on the issue.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has yet to reply to a request for comment.

The U.S. government reportedly spends more than $80 billion annually on intelligence gathering. Blackburn was asked why she thinks the government didn't see the COVID-19 pandemic coming at end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020, given how much it spends on intelligence.

Blackburn mentioned Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has said the COVID-19 testing was delayed in the U.S.

"We can all try to Monday morning quarterback this or we can just say, 'Look, there are plenty of federal agencies that have become so large and so bureaucratic because they're not flexible enough, and that enough attention was not paid at the outset,'" Blackburn said. "Dr. Fauci has said the testing activated too slowly and so we were a little late on this."