Trump Denies Paying Ransom To North Korea

CBS News reports:

President Trump said Thursday morning that “no money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier,” after news broke Thursday that North Korean officials handed a U.S. envoy a $2 million bill for the now-late student’s medical bills in 2017.

Mr. Trump has spoken of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with glowing terms since Warmbier’s death, saying Kim sent him “love letters” and praising the North Korean dictator’s leadership skills. In his unsuccessful trip to Hanoi, Vietnam, in February, the president claimed Kim was unaware of Warmbier’s situation, and he took Kim at his word.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, nobody on Twitter seems to have heard of a job titled “Cheif hostage negotiator.” Not even correctly spelled. It appears that Trump invented the job and the praising quote.

No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else. This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2019

“President Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years. No money was paid.” Cheif Hostage Negotiator, USA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2019