CNN's chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta tried to refocus blame on President Trump after he announced his administration will be putting a hold on funding to the World Health Organization as the U.S. investigates how much they are to blame for covering up the Wuhan coronavirus in the early stages of the pandemic.
"We have an investigation underway and we will find out what exactly went on," Trump said.
President @realDonaldTrump is halting funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess WHO's role in mismanaging the Coronavirus outbreak. pic.twitter.com/jTrEf4WWj0
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 14, 2020
Shortly after his announcement, Acosta said Trump was attempting to make scapegoats out of his failure to prepare the country for the Wuhan coronavirus arriving.
Other scapegoats blamed by Trump:
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 14, 2020
China
Obama administration
Acosta then went on to appear on-air and say Trump was appearing to look like "Baghdad Bob" and denying reality for focusing blame on China and the World Health Organization. "Baghdad Bob" was the nickname given to former Iraqi Information Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf during America's 2003 invasion of the country. Al-Sahhaf famously said the U.S. was going to be defeated as the Iraqi military crumbled.
"[Trump] is sounding very Baghdad Bob-like in the way he's assigning blame to everybody but himself. He is not taking responsibility for this. One of the things he just said a few moments ago about the World Health Organization, I'll just read you the quote. He says, 'It would have been so easy to be truthful.' That was an exact quote from the president and yet this is a president who time and again throughout this crisis has been playing fast and loose about the facts, lying about things, for example saying the Obama Administration left the cupboards bare," Acosta said.
