Denies...

Trump denies he paid North Korea $2 million for Otto Warmbier

By CAITLIN OPRYSKO

President Donald Trump on Friday issued a forceful denial that his administration paid any money for the return of Otto Warmbier following reports that North Korea issued a $2 million medical bill in exchange for his release.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else,” Trump wrote in a tweet in which he falsely contrasted his position with that of his predecessor and criticized a hostage swap that took place in 2014.

“This is not the Obama Administration that paid 1.8 Billion Dollars for four hostages, or gave five terroist [sic] hostages plus, who soon went back to battle, for traitor Sgt. Bergdahl!” he added.

The Washington Post first reported the $2 million bill’s existence Thursday, writing that North Korea refused to release Warmbier until a U.S. official signed an agreement to pay it. Joseph Yun, the State Department’s envoy to North Korea at the time, signed that agreement at Trump’s direction, the Post reported, but as of 2017 it remained unpaid.

Warmbier was arrested in North Korea in the first hours of 2016 for taking down a propaganda poster in a hotel there, and was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in what has been roundly condemned as a sham trial. But Pyongyang disclosed that Warmbier had fallen into a coma after his trial, offering differing explanations for how he came to be in that state.

U.S. officials scrambled to negotiate for his release after learning of his condition more than a year later, and Warmbier died shortly after being returned to the U.S.

Trump has touted his record of hostage releases while in office, and has contrasted himself with his predecessor’s approach, frequently bashing former President Barack Obama for his handling of hostage negotiations.

Trump often claims Obama paid around $1.7 million for the release of several Americans jailed in Iran, though the Obama administration insisted the money was already owed to Iran as part of a settlement over a trust fund frozen during the Iranian revolution, and that the timing of the transfer was intended as leverage to secure the Americans' release.

He has also slammed Obama in the past for trading five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who wandered away from his post in Afghanistan and was later captured by the Taliban. Those prisoners, returned to Qatar, last year joined the Taliban’s political office there, the group said.