There has been no shortage of outrage from diplomats, foreign policy experts, and anyone with common decency after Donald Trump took questions at a press conference in Vietnam and shockingly told the world that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had assured him he knew nothing about the torture of American Otto Warmbier while Warmbier was held in a North Korean prison, and that Trump took him at his word. His exact words: "Some really bad things happened to Otto — some really, really bad things. But he tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word."
Putting aside the findings of U.S. intelligence services, Trump actually sided with a man who rules his impoverished citizens by extreme measures, ordering executions by flamethrower, forcing his uncle to watch as his associates were obliterated by heavy-duty anti-aircraft guns, and even executing a North Korean official and his mistress by having a pack of wild dogs tear them apart.
When Otto Warmbier was returned to the United States in June 2017, he was suffering from severe brain damage and was so deformed that he was nearly unrecognizable to his family. He died only six days later.
The anguish of seeing Donald Trump side with Kim Jong Un was too much, and the family is now speaking out with a short but blistering statement.
To further elaborate on just how vile Trump’s statement about Otto Warmbier really was, here’s Mike Pence one year ago, explaining why he refused to stand at the opening ceremony of the Olympics when the North Korean delegation entered the stadium. Here is Pence describing North Korea as the most “tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet,” and saying, “America doesn’t stand with murderous dictatorships, we stand up to murderous dictatorships.”
Not anymore, Mikey. Your boss stands side-by-side with them.
If you want to be even further enraged, recall that Donald Trump brought Fred and Cindy Warmbier to the State of Union in January 2018 as his guests and acknowledged them in the crowd.
Otto Warmbier was a hardworking student at the University of Virginia. On his way to study abroad in Asia, Otto joined a tour to North Korea. At its conclusion, this wonderful young man was arrested and charged with crimes against the state. After a shameful trial, the dictatorship sentenced Otto to 15 years of hard labor, before returning him to America last June — horribly injured and on the verge of death. He passed away just days after his return.
Otto’s Parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, are with us tonight — along with Otto’s brother and sister, Austin and Greta. You are powerful witnesses to a menace that threatens our world, and your strength inspires us all. Tonight, we pledge to honor Otto’s memory with American resolve.
How disgraceful to use them as props at the State of the Union and then turn around to disrespect them a year later.