WATCH: Reporters Roast State Dept. Spox for Refusing to Say Kim Jong Un Responsible for Warmbier Killing

Tommy ChristopherMar 28th, 2019, 5:07 pm
 

Trump State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Palladino bent himself into a pretzel trying to avoid saying that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was responsible for the death of American hostage Otto Warmbier.

At a State Department briefing on Thursday, CNN’s Michelle Kosinski led a barrage of questions at Palladino about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo‘s refusal to directly blame Kim during a congressional hearing.

Kosinski asked why “when asked, does the secretary of state say it’s a political football, and not hold Kim Jong Un responsible for the death of an American citizen?”

“I’m not quite tracking what..” Palladino stammered.

“It’s from the hearing yesterday, he was asked if Kim Jong Un is responsible for the death of Otto Warmbier, he wouldn’t answer, and he said it was a political football. Why?” Kosinski asked.

“I think we’ve been, we’ve spoken out about these, that tragic incident repeatedly and often, from the United States government. And there’s nothing to add beyond that at this point, and so I wouldn’t go beyond what the secretary said yesterday,” Palladino said, stumbling frequently. “We’re also very much now in a time of trying to move forward and this is a matter of nuclear proliferation, and it’s something that we are focused on to protect the American people, and and for that reason it’s important for us to remain engaged on these issues and attempting to move this forward, and I’ll stop there.”

“Does the State Department believe that Kim Jong Un is responsible for this death or not?” Kosinski asked.

“That’s not what I said. That’s not what I said. And I want to move on,” Palladino interrupted.

“No, I asked you, does the State Department believe he’s responsible?” Kosinski pressed.

Palladino stammered his way through another response, telling her, “We have been, we have been explicit in our human rights report, we have spoken out about these topics often, the secretary has spoken about as well, and I’m not going to go beyond that at this point. Please.”

Associated Press reporter Matt Lee then asked Palladino: “Kim Jong Un leaves the regime, the regime is responsible, therefore Kim Jong Un is responsible right? Why is that so difficult for you guys to say?”

“You said it!” Palladino said. “The regime is responsible, and I have nothing further to add, after this, on this.”

Palladino was responding to this exchange at a hearing Wednesday:

Trump was severely criticized after his Hanoi summit for excusing Kim in Warmbier’s killing, and even after the criticism, has refused to directly hold Kim responsible.

Watch the video above, via C-SPAN.

Tags: