State Department Briefing, July 22, 2025: Bruce Announces UNESCO Withdrawal, WHO Regulations Rejection and Venezuela Detention Warning

Name: "State Department Briefing, July 22, 2025: Bruce Announces UNESCO Withdrawal, WHO Regulations Rejection and Venezuela Detention Warning"
Uploaded: 2025-07-22
Duration: 59 min 5 s
Description: "Spokesperson Tammy Bruce announces that no wrongfully detained Americans remain in Venezuela, that the U.S. has rejected the 2024 WHO International Health Regulations amendments, and that the U.S. is withdrawing from UNESCO, according to the State Department upload."

July 22, 2025 · U.S. Department of State · 0:59:05

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Spokesperson Tammy Bruce led the July 22, 2025 department briefing — Bruce is not among the officials tracked by name on this site, so this page is tagged with no tracked official. Bruce opened by stating that as of the prior Friday evening there are no wrongfully detained Americans in Venezuela, and reiterated a clear warning that no one should go to Venezuela: Americans, dual nationals and lawful permanent residents who travel there or to nearby border regions risk wrongful detention for months or years, and release is never a guarantee, as she stated it.

Bruce next announced that, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, the United States had formally notified the World Health Organization of its rejection of the 2024 International Health Regulations amendments, which she said were set to become legally binding regardless of the U.S. WHO withdrawal. She said the amendments broadened the WHO’s mandate beyond public health emergencies of international concern to events or conditions that may have the potential to become emergencies, allowing the WHO to deem what constitutes an international threat, and that rejecting them reaffirms that U.S. public health policy will be shaped by Americans for Americans, as she stated it.

Bruce then announced that the United States had informed UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay that day of its decision to withdraw from UNESCO. She said continued involvement is not in the national interest, that UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals — which she called a globalist ideological agenda at odds with America First foreign policy — and that UNESCO’s decision to admit the ‘state of Palestine’ as a member-state is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy and contributed to anti-Israel sentiment, as she stated it.

Why it matters

The briefing bundles three dated administration actions in one sitting — the Venezuela detention warning, the WHO regulations rejection and the UNESCO withdrawal — making it the single record of a day the department used to draw sovereignty lines across health and cultural agencies.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Department of State Press Briefing - July 22, 2025”, 2025-07-22 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-07-22). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.