Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., left, with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., speaks to the media after their meeting with President Donald Trump about Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) slammed the World Health Organization (WHO) for being unduly influenced by the Chinese government. Amid growing scrutiny of the communist regime, many, including President Donald Trump, have criticized the organization for kowtowing to China’s government when it comes to the country’s role in the coronavirus pandemic.

Rubio discussed President Trump’s recent criticism of the WHO and his threat to withhold funding due to being “very China-centric.” While offering praise for the individuals on the ground working to combat the spread of the virus, he asserted that the organization’s leadership had become “politicized.” He said:

“Unfortunately, it has been politicized. China has undertaken an effort over the last 15 years to sort of infiltrate and exert influence over international organizations at the U.N. and of course the World Health Organization.”

He continued, pointing out that “There’s evidence that it’s been politicized, that the World Health Organization at its leadership level was politicized by Chinese influence and Chinese money. And that’s unfortunate because that organization should not be political and should not be making public health pronouncements under duress from any country in the world. It should be making those pronouncements on the basis of medical science.”

He then called for the resignation of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization. “And so, I have deep concerns about it, and that’s why I hope that at a minimum, we can get the leader of that organization to resign because he’s definitely been politicized,” Rubio said.

On Tuesday, President Trump lashed out against the WHO for suggesting that the U.S. should open its borders to people traveling from China. He tweeted: “The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look,” he wrote, “Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”

During a press conference later in the day, the President indicated that his administration would be looking into the organization’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak and was considering withholding funds. When responding to a reporter asking if it was a good idea to hold back funding, he said: “I’m not going to say I’m going to do it. We will look at ending funding.”

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