White House doubles down on insulting family of murdered student

The White House doubled down on its praise of dictator Kim Jong Un even after Trump was criticized by the family of murdered teen Otto Warmbier, who died after being tortured in a North Korean detention facility.

After his failed summit with Kim, Trump said that he didn’t think that “the top leadership knew” about Warmbier’s killing. U.S. intelligence agencies and the vast majority of the world have confirmed that this is false.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier, his parents, issued a statement calling out Trump, in which they said, “Kim and his evil regime are responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity. No excuses or lavish praise can change that.”

Appearing on Fox News, Kellyanne Conway was asked about the statement and proceeded to stick to the administration’s original, hurtful position.

“The president is talking about that Chairman Kim did not know what happened to Otto at the time of when it happened,” she argued, noting that she had discussed her response directly with Trump. “Chairman Kim did not know — what the president is saying is that there’s no indication Chairman Kim knew what happened to Otto Warmbier when it happened.”

Incredulous at the callous response, the Fox News anchor asked, “So the president maintains—the president maintains that he takes Kim at his word that he did not know what was happening with Otto Warmbier while he was in his own country? In North Korea?”

“That’s right,” Conway replied.

As retired Navy Adm. John Kirby noted, it is “inexplicable” for Trump to side with Kim over this, particularly since Warmbier’s show trial was seen around the world in video footage. “They don’t make many decisions in North Korea without Kim Jong Un’s awareness and just tacit approval,” Kirby explained.

Trump has continued to describe the leader of the murderous regime in glowing terms despite his track record of oppression and murder. After the summit he told his fan and supporter Sean Hannity that Kim is “very sharp” and “a real leader.”

“He likes me, I like him,” Trump swooned.

The Warmbier family doesn’t matter to Trump, and his official reaction, via Conway, makes that very clear.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.