John Bolton tried to explain away Trump’s Otto Warmbier comments — and it went poorly

Serving President Trump often means trying to square a rhetorical circle. Sometimes it requires pretending he didn’t say what he said. Other times you’ll (gently) distance yourself from something you clearly regard as ridiculous.

And if you’re John Bolton on Sunday, it’s both.

On two Sunday shows, Trump’s national security adviser was asked to account for Trump’s controversial comments about Otto Warmbier. Before Trump departed from their failed Hanoi summit last week, he gave North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a little gift. He said he didn’t believe Kim knew Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, had been mistreated in a North Korean prison before his death. This strained credulity, to say the least.

View the complete March 4 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Otto Warmbier’s parents slam ‘Kim and his evil regime’ after Trump comments

The parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died in 2017 after being returned from his detention in North Korea, spoke out on Friday following President Trump’s apparent defense of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over their son’s death.

“We have been respectful during this summit process,” Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement. “Now we must speak out.”

“Kim and his evil regime are responsible for the death of our son Otto. Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that,” they said.

View the complete March 1 article by Morgan Gstalter on The Hill website here.