Pompeo tells Dem rep. not to make Otto Warmbier a ‘political football’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) for trying to make the death of the death of Otto Warmbier “a political football” while Malinowski grilled Pompeo on President Trump’s fondness for North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un. 

“Was [Kim] responsible for the decision not to allow Otto Warmbier to come home until he was on death’s door?” Malinowski asked Pompeo.

“I’ll leave the president’s statement to stand,” Pompeo said. “We all know that the North Korea regime was responsible for the tragedy that occurred to Otto Warmbier.”

“So what’s to like? So what’s to like about Kim Jong-Un?” Malinowski asked Pompeo as Pompeo continued to say that Warmbier’s family suffered. 

“Don’t make this a political football,” Pompeo said. “It’s inappropriate.” 

MALINOWSKI: Is Kim Jong Un responsible for North Korea’s forced labor camps?

POMPEO: He’s the leader of the country

M: Was Kim responsible for Otto Warmbier’s death?

P: I love the Warmbier family dearly

M: So what’s to like about Kim?

P: Don’t make this a political football pic.twitter.com/ugfor76BN7

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 27, 2019

President Trump said Friday that he would reverse recent Treasury Department sanctions on North Korea. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump “likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary.”

Pompeo earlier this month reportedly refused to say whether Jong-Un had been aware of Warmbier’s mistreatment. 

Warmbier was an American student who was incarcerated in North Korea for allegedly taking a propaganda poster. He was returned to the U.S. in a coma in 2017 and died soon after.