Letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization - Comer Demands Answers After WHO Provides False Information to Congress Regarding China's Coverup

Letter

Dear Dr. Tedros:

On April 9, 2020, Republicans on the Committee on Oversight and Reform (the
Committee) wrote to you regarding the World Health Organization's (WHO) failed response to
the COVID-19 pandemic, including its reported improper relationship with the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP). On June 15, 2020, over two months after receipt of the letter, you
provided a formal response. This response was wholly incomplete and contained at least one
false statement. This revelation demands your complete and forthright response to the
Committee's previous request and sworn testimony before the Select Subcommittee on the
Coronavirus Crisis (the Select Subcommittee). Until you appear under oath, America and the
world will not know the origins of this crisis.

From as early as April 27, 2020, the WHO included a COVID-19 response timeline on its
public website. This timeline originally stated that on December 31, 2019 the "Wuhan
Municipal Health Commission, China, reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei
Province" to the WHO. This is also what you told the Committee in your June 15, 2020 letter and maintained on your website until June 29, 2020. On April 20, 2020, during a virtual press
conference, you even said: "[t]he first report came from Wuhan, from China itself."

However, a news report from last week revealed that your organization quietly
contradicted these claims by posting an "updated" timeline to your official website. Then, on
June 30, 2020, the above reference was quietly scrubbed from the website timeline. The timeline
now states that the "WHO's Country Office in the People's Republic of China (PRC) picked up a
media report…on cases of "viral pneumonia' in Wuhan, PRC." The "media report" was actually
information posted to a United States website from doctors working in the epicenter of the
pandemic.

This revelation confirms that China failed to notify the WHO of the outbreak, in violation
of the International Health Regulations (IHR), and must be held accountable. By refusing to
disclose the truth, you have shielded China from accountability. Your public statements
regarding the initial outbreak coupled with the WHO website and your June 15 letter to this
Committee demonstrate an endorsement of the CCP propaganda efforts to cover up the origins of
this virus and mislead the world.

Since the beginning of this crisis, the WHO's negligence and lack of transparency
resulted in a loss of faith in your ability to contain this and future pandemics. This culminated
with President Trump announcing the withdrawal of the United States' voluntary WHO
contributions on May 29, 2020 and officially notifying the U.S. Congress and the United Nations
of the withdrawal on July 7, 2020. Unequivocally, no organization should receive American
taxpayer dollars that refuses to tell the truth and is unaccountable to the nations it serves.

This new information necessitates your immediate response. We renew our April 9, 2020
request for the briefing and all the documents and communications. For your ready reference we
previously requested the following documents and information:

1. All documents and communications regarding public health, including but not limited to
COVID-19, novel coronavirus, or coronavirus, between the WHO and the Chinese
Communist Party or the government of China between August 2019 and present.

2. All documents and communications regarding the total number of infected persons and
deceased persons related to the current COVID-19 pandemic in China, including those
infected but asymptomatic between August 2019 and present.

3. All documents and communications regarding public health, including but not limited to
COVID-19, novel coronavirus, or coronavirus, between the WHO and Taiwan between
August 2019 and present.

Additionally, we request the following employees of the WHO appear for transcribed
interviews before the Select Subcommittee:

1. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Director-General
World Health Organization

2. Dr. John Mackenzie
Emergency Committee Advisor
World Health Organization

3. Dr. Michael Ryan
Executive Director
World Health Organization Emergencies Programme

Please provide the previously requested briefing, documents, communications, and
confirm, in writing, the requested individual's attendance for transcribed interviews by July 15,
2020. In addition, we call on the WHO to publicly and formally acknowledge China's violation
of the IHR.

This briefing may be conducted remotely for convenience and safety issues. To schedule
the briefing or ask any follow-up or related questions, please contact Committee on Oversight
and Reform staff at (202) 225-5074.

The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the principal oversight committee of the U.S.
House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate "any matter" at "any time" under
House Rule X. Further, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis is empowered to
investigate "preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis, including the planning for and implementation of testing, containment, mitigation, and surveillance activities." Thank you
in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry.

Sincerely,

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