Not long after President Donald Trump stated in an interview following the abrupt end of the Hanoi Nuclear Summit that the North Korean military man Kim Jong Un had no hand in the death of American student Otto Warmbier, Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley took to Twitter to contradict the United States President.
"We will never forget Otto," Haley tweeted.
Haley also pointed out that Americans "know" what "cruelty" Warmbier suffered in the hands of Kim's regime. She also went on to offer support to the family of the deceased student from Ohio, saying that "our hearts" were with them.
That was her critical response to President Trump's statements regarding the North Korean dictator's supposed ignorance of Warmbier's death in a North Korean prison, although she never mentions him outright.
Haley resigned her post as UN ambassador in October of 2018, leaving abruptly albeit with a note of satisfaction, as she stated in her resignation, over the administration's record at the U.N.
On the matter of Warmbier's death, President Trump responded to a question posed to him regarding the deceased in an interview following the termination of talks at the summit in Hanoi. He answered saying that he had asked Kim the regarding the matter and that the latter had denied knowing of the young American's plight.
The U.S. President went on to say that he believed Kim would not have "allowed" that to transpire and reasoned that it would not have been to the North Korean leader's "advantage" to do that.
Trump also clarified that he "really believed" that Warmbier had gone through something "bad" in the North Korean prison, going on to attempt to explain what may have happened in "those prison camps" where he says there are "a lot of people." He mentions Kim "felt very badly," but still sticks to his defense of the latter strong arm with "he didn't know about it."
Trump declared, "I take him at his word."
With his statement, the U.S. President earned the wrath and displeasure of even those from his rank of supporters who have expressed their incredulity at Trump's avouchment of Kim Jong Un's ignorance of Warmbier's predicament.
Ohio's Republican Senator, Rob Portman, gave a statement responding to Trump's absolution of Kim, declaring that the North Korean regime should not be taken "off the hook" for what it had done to the student captive.
Congress Representative for Cincinnati Brad Wenstrup referred to the "despicable" violations of human rights that Kim's regime has perpetrated, pointing out that Warmbier's incarceration and subsequent death was "heinous."
Ohio's Senator Sherrod Brown pointed out that the North Korean government must be held accountable for the "murder" of Wyoming, Ohio's Warmbier and be made to answer for it.
Furthermore, Brown strongly criticized the United States president for his act of defending the North Korean leader, saying the latter is "sending a message" to despots worldwide that he would take their word for it when they would claim ignorance for acts that "cover up" or "justify policies" that end in the reprehensible suffering and death of "human beings."
The Warmbier family has remained silent on the matter.
