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It’s Jamal Khashoggi all over again with Trump and Otto Warmbier

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified March 27, answering questions from Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) about the death of U.S. student Otto Warmbier. (C-Span)

Pompeo has now repeatedly declined to blame Kim Jong Un personally for human rights abuses

When the president you serve speaks glowingly about strongmen, it makes your job as his chief diplomat more difficult. Yes, sometimes you have to deal with such leaders, but you also need to avoid legitimizing them. You may be on the verge of cutting a deal, but does that mean you give the autocrat a pass on humanitarian abuses — even ones directly involving the United States?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been through this already with Jamal Khashoggi. Now he’s going through it with Otto Warmbier.

And on Wednesday, he got testy over it.

View the complete March 27 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

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