Thursday, President of the United States Donald Trump took the word of North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un that he didn’t know of the conditions that led to the death of American student Otto Warmbier last year.
This marked yet another instance Trump would take the essential word of an autocrate that led to some kind of nefarious action toward the United States. Last year, Trump also took the word of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the issue of the 2016 hacked election in which the U.S. intelligence community traced back to the Kremlin. Also last year, Trump took believed Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman when he denied ordering his goons to take a bone saw to U.S. resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Meanwhile Otto Warmbier’s parents, who previously praised Trump over his role in the return of their son despite the treatment by the North Korean government that led to his death, clapped back at Trump’s comments.
Via the Washington Post:
“Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto,” the Warmbiers said in their statement Friday. “Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuse or lavish praise can change that.”
Trump also responded:
Okay, lets pretend that Kim had no knowledge initially that Warmbier had been arrested. That is somewhat believable. What’s not believable is an American student becoming brain dead while in North Korean custody and that Country’s leader not knowing about it. Warmbier was a high profile prisoner within that Country and his captivity would have undoubtedly been known to Kim under the pretense that he (Warmbier) could have been used as a bargaining chip. Not to mention, doctors in the United States concluded that Warmbier was in a vegetative state for about 14 months. Only a fool or a heartless piece of shit would believe otherwise especially if the POTUS is going to look past the death of an American citizen to help in any sort of negotiations.
